Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-10T14:51:49.748Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Children's capacity to correct grammatical violations in sentences*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Chris Pratt ,
William E. Tunmer  and
Judith A. Bowey
Chris Pratt
Affiliation:
University of Western Australia
William E. Tunmer
Affiliation:
University of Western Australia
Judith A. Bowey
Affiliation:
University of Western Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Previous studies of children's knowledge of grammatical well-formedness have typically involved eliciting acceptability judgements from children. In the present study, children were expected to employ their tacit knowledge of the rules of grammar to correct sentences containing grammatical rule violations. Two groups of children (mean ages of 5;5 and 6;4) were presented with ungrammatical sentences resulting from either word-order changes or morpheme deletions. The results indicated that both groups of children performed well when presented with ungrammatical sentences containing morpheme deletions; but the performance of both groups was lower for the word-order violations, with the difference between the two types being greater for the 5-year-olds. It is argued that these results reflect differences in the extent to which the two types of rule violations rendered the original sentences meaningless.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , February 1984 , pp. 129 - 141
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1984

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.)

References

REFERENCES

Brown, R. (1973). A first language: the early stages. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, R., Fraser, C. & Bellugi, U. (1964). Explorations in grammar evaluation. Monogr. Soc. Res. Ch. Devel. 29. 79–92.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carr, D. B. (1979). The development of young children's capacity to judge anomalous sentences. JChLang 6. 227–42.Google ScholarPubMed
Cazden, C. B. (1976). Play with language and metalinguistic awareness. In Bruner, J. S., Jolly, A. & Sylva, K. (eds), Play: its role in development and evolution. Harmondsworth: Penguin.Google Scholar
Clark, H. H. & Clark, E. V. (1977). The psychology of language. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.Google Scholar
de Villiers, J. G. & de Villiers, P. A. (1973). A cross-sectional study of the acquisition of grammatical morphemes. JPsycholingRes 2. 267–78.Google ScholarPubMed
de Villiers, P. A. & de Villiers, J. G. (1972). Early judgements of semantic and syntactic acceptability by children. JPsycholingRes 1. 299–310.Google ScholarPubMed
Donaldson, M. (1978). Children's minds. Glasgow: Fontana.Google Scholar
Donaldson, M. & McGarrigle, J. (1974). Some clues to the nature of semantic development. JChLang 1. 185–94.Google Scholar
Ehri, L. C. (1979). Linguistic insight: threshold of reading acquisitions. In Waller, T. G. & MacKinnon, G. E. (eds), Reading research: advances in theory and practice. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich.Google Scholar
Gleitman, L. R., Gleitman, H. & Shipley, E. F. (1972). The emergence of the child as grammarian. Cognition 1. 137–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hakes, D. T., Evans, J. S. & Tunmer, W. E. (1980). The development of metalinguistic abilities in children. Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karmiloff-Smith, A. (1979). Language development after five. In Fletcher, P. & Garman, M. (eds), Language acquisition. Cambridge: C.U.P.Google Scholar
Pratt, C. & Grieve, R. (1980). The role of language awareness in cognitive development. EdResPerspec 7. 68–79.Google Scholar
Scholl, D. M. & Ryan, E. B. (1975). Child judgements of sentences varying in grammatical complexity. JExpChPsychol 20. 274–85.Google Scholar
Scholl, D. M. (1980). Development of metalinguistic performance in the early school years. L & S 23. 190–211.Google Scholar
Tunmer, W. E. & Bowey, J. A. (1980). The role of linguistic awareness in a theory of reading acquisition. EdResPerspec 7. 80–101.Google Scholar
Tunmer, W. E. & Grieve, R. (1980). The development of the child's awareness of grammatical structure. EdResPerspec 7. 47–56.Google Scholar
Tunmer, W. E., Pratt, C. & Herriman, H. (1983). Metalinguistic awareness in children: theory, research and implications. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar