Sensitivity to discontinuous dependencies in language learners: evidence for limitations in processing space. Santelmann, L. M. & Jusczyk, P. W. Cognition, 69(2):105-34, 1998. abstract bibtex Five experiments using the Headturn Preference Procedure examined 15- and 18-month-old children's sensitivity to morphosyntactic dependencies in English. In each experiment, the children were exposed to two types of passages. Passages in the experimental condition contained a well-formed English dependency between the auxiliary verb is and a main verb with the ending -ing. Passages in the control condition contained an ungrammatical combination of the modal auxiliary can and a main verb with the ending -ing. In the experiments, the distance between the dependent morphemes was systematically varied by inserting an adverbial of a specified length between the auxiliary and main verbs. The results indicated that 18-month-olds are sensitive to the basic relationship between is and -ing, but that 15-month-olds are not. The 18-month-olds, but not the 15-month-olds, listened significantly longer to the passages with the well-formed English dependency. In addition, the 18-month-olds showed this preference for the well-formed dependency only over a limited domain of 1-3 syllables. Over domains of 4-5 syllables, they showed no significant preference for the experimental over the control passages. These findings indicate that 18-month-olds can track relationships between functor morphemes. Additionally, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that 18-month-olds are working with a limited processing window, and that they are only picking up relevant dependencies that fall within this window.
@Article{Santelmann1998,
author = {L. M. Santelmann and Peter W. Jusczyk},
journal = {Cognition},
title = {Sensitivity to discontinuous dependencies in language learners: evidence for limitations in processing space.},
year = {1998},
number = {2},
pages = {105-34},
volume = {69},
abstract = {Five experiments using the Headturn Preference Procedure examined
15- and 18-month-old children's sensitivity to morphosyntactic dependencies
in English. In each experiment, the children were exposed to two
types of passages. Passages in the experimental condition contained
a well-formed English dependency between the auxiliary verb is and
a main verb with the ending -ing. Passages in the control condition
contained an ungrammatical combination of the modal auxiliary can
and a main verb with the ending -ing. In the experiments, the distance
between the dependent morphemes was systematically varied by inserting
an adverbial of a specified length between the auxiliary and main
verbs. The results indicated that 18-month-olds are sensitive to
the basic relationship between is and -ing, but that 15-month-olds
are not. The 18-month-olds, but not the 15-month-olds, listened significantly
longer to the passages with the well-formed English dependency. In
addition, the 18-month-olds showed this preference for the well-formed
dependency only over a limited domain of 1-3 syllables. Over domains
of 4-5 syllables, they showed no significant preference for the experimental
over the control passages. These findings indicate that 18-month-olds
can track relationships between functor morphemes. Additionally,
these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that 18-month-olds
are working with a limited processing window, and that they are only
picking up relevant dependencies that fall within this window.},
keywords = {Attention, Female, Humans, Infant, Language Development, Male, Phonetics, Semantics, Speech Perception, 9894402},
}
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Passages in the experimental condition contained a well-formed English dependency between the auxiliary verb is and a main verb with the ending -ing. Passages in the control condition contained an ungrammatical combination of the modal auxiliary can and a main verb with the ending -ing. In the experiments, the distance between the dependent morphemes was systematically varied by inserting an adverbial of a specified length between the auxiliary and main verbs. The results indicated that 18-month-olds are sensitive to the basic relationship between is and -ing, but that 15-month-olds are not. The 18-month-olds, but not the 15-month-olds, listened significantly longer to the passages with the well-formed English dependency. In addition, the 18-month-olds showed this preference for the well-formed dependency only over a limited domain of 1-3 syllables. Over domains of 4-5 syllables, they showed no significant preference for the experimental over the control passages. These findings indicate that 18-month-olds can track relationships between functor morphemes. Additionally, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis that 18-month-olds are working with a limited processing window, and that they are only picking up relevant dependencies that fall within this window.","keywords":"Attention, Female, Humans, Infant, Language Development, Male, Phonetics, Semantics, Speech Perception, 9894402","bibtex":"@Article{Santelmann1998,\n author = {L. M. Santelmann and Peter W. Jusczyk},\n journal = {Cognition},\n title = {Sensitivity to discontinuous dependencies in language learners: evidence for limitations in processing space.},\n year = {1998},\n number = {2},\n pages = {105-34},\n volume = {69},\n abstract = {Five experiments using the Headturn Preference Procedure examined\n\t15- and 18-month-old children's sensitivity to morphosyntactic dependencies\n\tin English. In each experiment, the children were exposed to two\n\ttypes of passages. Passages in the experimental condition contained\n\ta well-formed English dependency between the auxiliary verb is and\n\ta main verb with the ending -ing. Passages in the control condition\n\tcontained an ungrammatical combination of the modal auxiliary can\n\tand a main verb with the ending -ing. In the experiments, the distance\n\tbetween the dependent morphemes was systematically varied by inserting\n\tan adverbial of a specified length between the auxiliary and main\n\tverbs. The results indicated that 18-month-olds are sensitive to\n\tthe basic relationship between is and -ing, but that 15-month-olds\n\tare not. The 18-month-olds, but not the 15-month-olds, listened significantly\n\tlonger to the passages with the well-formed English dependency. In\n\taddition, the 18-month-olds showed this preference for the well-formed\n\tdependency only over a limited domain of 1-3 syllables. Over domains\n\tof 4-5 syllables, they showed no significant preference for the experimental\n\tover the control passages. These findings indicate that 18-month-olds\n\tcan track relationships between functor morphemes. Additionally,\n\tthese findings are consistent with the hypothesis that 18-month-olds\n\tare working with a limited processing window, and that they are only\n\tpicking up relevant dependencies that fall within this window.},\n keywords = {Attention, Female, Humans, Infant, Language Development, Male, Phonetics, Semantics, Speech Perception, 9894402},\n}\n\n","author_short":["Santelmann, L. M.","Jusczyk, P. 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