Testing the Extended Optional Infinitive Hypothesis in English and German



List, Charleen
(2020) Testing the Extended Optional Infinitive Hypothesis in English and German. PhD thesis, University of Liverpool.

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Abstract

The thesis aims to explain how children learn the pattern of verb marking in their language and how this process goes wrong in children with DLD. This is fundamental to our understanding of language acquisition. One model of this process, which has been particularly influential in the DLD literature, is the (Extended) Optional Infinitive ((E)OI) Hypothesis (Wexler, 1994; Rice et al., 1995).However, recent work has shown that the cross-linguistic pattern of verb-marking error may be better explained with the Dual-factor model in which some errors reflect the omission of modal verbs (e.g. He can swim.) and others a process of defaulting to a more accessible finite form (Freudenthal et al., 2010; Räsänen, Ambridge & Pine, 2014). These two models have very different implications both for theory building and for the design of effective interventions for children with DLD. So it is important to establish which is correct. However, distinguishing between them empirically requires cross-linguistic research on both typically developing children and children with DLD. This study will therefore use an elicited production methodology to compare different accounts of the pattern of verb-marking error in typically developing children and children with DLD in English and German.

Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
Divisions: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 20 Aug 2020 08:58
Last Modified: 18 Jan 2023 23:37
DOI: 10.17638/03097518
Supervisors:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3097518