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On the Distribution and Acquisition of the West Germanic ‘Need’-Verbs: German between Dutch and English

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2016

Jing Lin
Jing Lin*
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam
*
Department of Dutch Linguistics, University of Amsterdam, Spuistraat 134, 1012VB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands [[email protected]]
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Abstract

This paper investigates three verbs expressing necessity in the three West Germanic languages: Dutch hoeven, English need, and German brauchen. These three verbs are all categorized as negative polarity items (npis). However, there are differences in their distribution as NPIs, which posit German brauchen between English need and Dutch hoeven. By analyzing two factors that may influence acquisition, namely, opacity and input frequency, this paper moreover presents a similar pattern for the acquisition of these NPIs: The Dutch NPI hoeven emerges earlier in child language than its German counterpart, which in turn arises earlier than the English NPI need.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Germanic Linguistics , Volume 28 , Special Issue 4: New Directions in Comparative Germanic Linguistics , December 2016 , pp. 349 - 369
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Germanic Linguistics 2016 

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