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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
In thirteen pages this paper examines whether or not there is evidence to suggest that children’s knowledge of syntax changes or develops over time and if so considers the nature of this evidence. Nine sources are cited in the bibliography.
Page Count:
13 pages (~225 words per page)
File: TG15_TGsyntax.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
later. However, by age two, most children regardless of native language are capable of speaking in short, simple sentences. But a topic in child language development that has
long held a particular fascination is how a child increases syntax knowledge. Syntax is defined as the way in which words are grammatically organized within sentences. While the
exact origin of this syntax knowledge - whether it is learned, imitated, or the product of either heredity and/or environment - remains fodder for debate, of greater interest to researchers
is whether or not such knowledge of syntax is static or unchanging or if it continues to change, evolve, and grow over time. In any language, words
are composed in certain ways so as to convey meaning (Gertner, Fisher, & Eisengart, 2006, p. 684). There are rules that determine how words can be arranged in sentences,
and if these rules are not understood or adhered to, sentence meaning can be elusive or completely lost. Gertner et al (2006) have observed that most children by the
age of two seem to exhibit an understanding of what sentences mean that extends beyond their limited vocabulary of word comprehension (p. 684). There is what several theorists describe
as "language learnability" that enables children to take that seed of syntax knowledge each apparently begins with and encourage it to grow (Rondal, 1994, p. 147). Renowned linguist and
Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Kenneth Wexler devised the maturation theory of syntax. Basically, Wexlers theory states that different principles of grammar are available to a child at various
stages of development (Rondal, 1994, p. 147). Professor Wexler explains, "We assume that the child up into a certain age, between say two and two-and-a-half, has a formal constraint
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