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The Comparative Method of language acquisition research: a Mayan case study*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2013

CLIFTON PYE  and
BARBARA PFEILER
CLIFTON PYE*
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, The University of Kansas
BARBARA PFEILER*
Affiliation:
Centro Peninsular en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
*
Addresses for correspondence: Clifton Pye, Department of Linguistics, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66044USA. e-mail: pyersqr@ku.edu.
Barbara Pfeiler, Centro Peninsular en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales de la UNAM en Mérida, Calle 43 s/n x 44 y 46, Col. Industrial, CP. 97150, Mérida, Yucatán, México. e-mail: bpfeiler@prodigy.net.mx
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Abstract

This article demonstrates how the Comparative Method can be applied to cross-linguistic research on language acquisition. The Comparative Method provides a systematic procedure for organizing and interpreting acquisition data from different languages. The Comparative Method controls for cross-linguistic differences at all levels of the grammar and is especially useful in drawing attention to variation in contexts of use across languages. This article uses the Comparative Method to analyze the acquisition of verb suffixes in two Mayan languages: K'iche' and Yucatec. Mayan status suffixes simultaneously mark distinctions in verb transitivity, verb class, mood, and clause position. Two-year-old children acquiring K'iche' and Yucatec Maya accurately produce the status suffixes on verbs, in marked distinction to the verbal prefixes for aspect and agreement. We find evidence that the contexts of use for the suffixes differentially promote the children's production of cognate status suffixes in K'iche' and Yucatec.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , March 2014 , pp. 382 - 415
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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Footnotes

[*]

This project would not be possible without the support of the K'iche' investigators: Augustin Huix Huix, Pedro Quixtan Poz, Emilio Quiej Huix, and Santos Quiej Huix. Data collection for K'iche' was supported by grants from the Organization of American States and the Wenner Gren Foundation to the first author. Data collection for Yucatec was supported by the Programa de Apoyo a Proyectos de Investigación e Innovación Tecnológica-Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Nr. IN 401207 to the second author. We thank the families of the K'iche' and Yucatec children for allowing the investigators into their homes and their support of this research. Earlier versions of this article were presented at the annual meetings of the Society for the Study of Indigenous Languages in 2005 and 2008. We thank the participants for their comments and suggestions. We also thank the former and current editor and associate editor of this journal as well as the reviewers for many helpful suggestions. We are solely responsible for any remaining errors.

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