Wh-Acquisition:  Evidence from Converging Methodologies
{'Code': '04040500', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'SBE', 'LongName': 'Direct For Social, Behav & Economic Scie'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'BCS', 'LongName': 'Division Of Behavioral and Cognitive Sci'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Paul G. Chapin', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
ABSTRACT                                                                                                                                                                                                         "Wh-acquisition" refers to the child's acquiring the ability to                 use and understand questions using interrogative pronouns, words                which in English usually begin with the letters "wh":  who, what,               where, etc.  The formation of such questions involves some of the               central abstract features of language:  long-distance relations,                bound variables, and empty categories. Existing naturalistic                    studies of child language, based on sampling of children's                      utterances, have not been very revealing of how various wh-                     structures emerge, because the crucial forms appear relatively                  infrequently.  Also, understanding this facet of language                       development requires evidence of the child's interpretation of                  questions, as well as production of questions.                                                                                                                  The present project will constitute a coordinated study of the                  acquisition of wh-expressions.  A combination of diary studies,                 longitudinal sampling of a small number of children, and                        experiments testing children's interpretations will be used.  The               experiments will also be run with a larger sample of 40 children,               to obtain longitudinal data on how interpretations of wh-question               structures change between the ages of three to six.  The goal is                to provide individual profiles of the growth of wh-movement where               a wide range of structures can be simultaneously examined.                                                                                                      Pilot work indicates the possibility of obtaining important                     evidence for the theory of barriers, the semantics of bound                     variables, and lexical or pragmatic effects.  The data obtained                 will contribute to a realistic parametric model of the                          acquisition of questions.
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{'Name': 'University of Massachusetts Amherst', 'CityName': 'AMHERST', 'ZipCode': '010039252', 'PhoneNumber': '4135450698', 'StreetAddress': '101 COMMONWEALTH AVE', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'Massachusetts', 'StateCode': 'MA', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '02', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'MA02', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'VGJHK59NMPK9', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': 'VGJHK59NMPK9'}
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[{'Code': '1311', 'Text': 'Linguistics'}, {'Code': '9120', 'Text': 'CROSS-DIRECTORATE PROGRAMS'}]
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