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The development of infinitives from three to five*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Sarita L. Eisenberg  and
Helen S. Cairns
Sarita L. Eisenberg*
Affiliation:
Teachers College, Columbia University
Helen S. Cairns
Affiliation:
Queens College and the City University of New York
*
Box 160, Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120 Street, New York, NY 10027, USA.
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Abstract

This study investigated the form of infinitival sentences produced by young children and their knowledge of the control properties of this sentence form. Twenty-five children between the ages of 3;7 and 5;4 participated in a story completion task designed to elicit infinitive sentences and in an act-out comprehension task. Although the infinitive form was productive for even the youngest children in this study, development of this form was not complete even for the five-year-olds, nor did any child demonstrate adult knowledge of control. In addition, two competing claims regarding order of acquisition (that of Limber, 1973, and Hyams, 1985) were evaluated.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 21 , Issue 3 , October 1994 , pp. 713 - 734
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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Footnotes

[*]

The study reported here is based on a doctoral dissertation completed by the first author at the Graduate School of the City University of New York. We appreciate the cooperation of Mrs Karen Schwinger, director of the Scribbles Nursery School in Mountain Lakes, NJ, and of the parents and children who participated in our study. We thank Dr Dana McDaniel for her comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.

References

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