Abstract for Lidiya Tornyova's talk

Auxiliary use in early Bulgarian and English wh-questions
Lidiya Tornyova (CUNY Graduate Center)
October 21, 2008 (Tuesday)
6:30 PM - 8:00 PM; Room 7102, CUNY Graduate Center

Young English-speaking children show a relatively protracted period of development in wh-questions.  The most common errors are failure to include an auxiliary or failure to invert the auxiliary when it is present.  The source of such errors is still unknown.

We propose that the unique combination of language-specific structural characteristics of the target grammar, e.g., variable tense realization and movement of the auxiliary across clause types in English, determine the types of errors children produce and the length of time required for acquisition.

Bulgarian differs from English in several crucial aspects that, we predict, will result in earlier mastery of correct auxiliary use in wh-questions in Bulgarian compared to English.  The relevant properties are: a) obligatory auxiliary and verb inversion in wh-questions; b) inversion in all wh-questions, whether matrix or embedded; c) lack of homonymy of relative and interrogative pronouns (e.g., where).

To test the hypothesis that cross-linguistic variation accounts for different patterns in acquisition, we examine elicited imitation of wh-questions by 29 English-speaking children aged 2;6 to 3;2 and 18 Bulgarian-speaking children aged 2;2 to 3;3.