Hostname: page-component-6898cfcb55-zkb6p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-11T22:08:33.941Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Affix processing strategies and linguistic systems*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Richard M. Weist and
Emilia Konieczna
Richard M. Weist
Affiliation:
State University of New York College at Fredonia
Emilia Konieczna
Affiliation:
Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The relationship between affix processing and linguistic systems was evaluated through an analysis of prefixation and suffixation in the tense-aspect and locative systems of child Polish. For six children ranging in age from 1; 7 to 2; 6, the distinction between imperfective and perfective aspect was made more frequently by prefixation than by suffixation. Prefixation was found to be just as productive in the specification of locative distinctions as aspectual distinctions. We found no bias in affix processing which might have favoured suffixation, and no interaction of linguistic systems with affix processing. Furthermore, an inter-language comparison confirmed these intralanguage findings. Finally, we argued that affix processing involves a parallel analysis of patterns of stored information providing the motivation for selective attention.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , February 1985, pp. 27 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Chmura-Klekotowa, M. (1967/1968). Neologizmy slowotworcze w mowie dzieci I & II. (Morphological neologisms in the speech of children – parts I & II.) Poradnik Jezykowy 10. 433–45, 11. 19–25.Google Scholar
Clancy, P. M. (in press). Acquisition of Japanese. In Slobin, D. I.(ed.), The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Erbaugh, M. S. (1982). Coming to order: natural selection and the origin of syntax in the Mandarin-speaking child. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Johnston, J. R. & Slobin, D. I. (1979). The development of locative expressions in English, Italian, Serbo-Croatian, and Turkish. JChLang 6. 529–46.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B. (1978). The acquisition of morphology. Monogr.Soc.Res.Ch.Dev. 43, Nos. 1–2. 1–123.Google Scholar
Majewicz, A. (in press). A contrastive description of the aspect in Polish. Lingua Posnaniensis.Google Scholar
Peters, A. (in press). Language segmentation: operating principles for the perception and analysis of language. In Slobin, D. I. (ed.), The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition. Hillsdale, N. J.: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Schenker, A. M. (1973). Beginning Polish. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (1973). Cognitive prerequisites for the development of grammar. In Ferguson, C. A. & Slobin, D. I. (eds), Studies of child language development. New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (in press). Crosslinguistic evidence for the language-making capacity. In Slobin, D. I. (ed.), The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Smoczyńska, M. (in press). The acquisition of Polish. In Slobin, D. I. (ed.), The crosslinguistic study of language acquisition. Hillsdale, N.J.: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Toivainen, J. (1980). Inflectional affixes used by Finnish-speaking children aged 1–3 years. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura.Google Scholar
Wales, R. (1979). Deixis. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M.(eds), Language acquisition. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Weist, R. M. (1983). Prefix versus suffix information processing in the comprehension of tense and aspect. JChLang 10. 85–96.Google Scholar
Weist, R. M., Wysocka, H., Witkowska-Stadnik, K., Buczowska, E. & Konieczna, E. (1984). The defective tense hypothesis: on the emergence of tense and aspect in child Polish. JChLang 11. 347–74.Google ScholarPubMed