The use of complex structures with a word class change in Inuktitut child-directed speech
Caregivers typically use a simplified mode of the language – child-directed speech (CDS) – when addressing young children. In this study, we investigate the use of complex morphological structures with a word class change within a single word in Inuktitut CDS. Inuktitut is a polysynthetic agglutinat...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:76fb968623c5424185a5a7f510b77cc3 2023-05-15T15:10:38+02:00 The use of complex structures with a word class change in Inuktitut child-directed speech Olga Alice Johnson Shanley E. M. Allen 2022-10-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.971395 https://doaj.org/article/76fb968623c5424185a5a7f510b77cc3 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.971395/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-1078 1664-1078 doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.971395 https://doaj.org/article/76fb968623c5424185a5a7f510b77cc3 Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 13 (2022) child-directed speech morphological simplification polysynthesis Inuktitut first language acquisition nominalization Psychology BF1-990 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.971395 2022-12-30T21:36:19Z Caregivers typically use a simplified mode of the language – child-directed speech (CDS) – when addressing young children. In this study, we investigate the use of complex morphological structures with a word class change within a single word in Inuktitut CDS. Inuktitut is a polysynthetic agglutinative language of the Inuit–Yupik–Unangan language family spoken in arctic Quebec, which allows more than 10 morphemes per word and in which the meaning of an entire sentence can be expressed in one word. Clearly, such a complex morphological system presents special challenges for young children, which raises the question of whether caregivers shape their CDS in ways that facilitate acquisition. Using the data from mothers addressing eight Inuktitut-speaking children aged 0;11 to 3;6, we investigated whether the frequency and complexity of polysynthetic structures in CDS are dependent on the stage of the children’s linguistic development. The results demonstrate that the number and morphological complexity of the structures with a word class change increased as the children developed linguistically. The variety of nominalizers and verbalizers – the key components of such structures – also increased through the stages and were used in variation sets, which help children acquire morphological items by providing examples of use of the same morpheme in morphologically contrasting environments. These results show the presence of morphological simplification in Inuktitut CDS and demonstrate that such simplification is fine-tuned, i.e., that mothers are sensitive to their children’s level of linguistic development. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic inuit Inuit–Yupik inuktitut Unangan Yupik Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Frontiers in Psychology 13 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
child-directed speech morphological simplification polysynthesis Inuktitut first language acquisition nominalization Psychology BF1-990 |
spellingShingle |
child-directed speech morphological simplification polysynthesis Inuktitut first language acquisition nominalization Psychology BF1-990 Olga Alice Johnson Shanley E. M. Allen The use of complex structures with a word class change in Inuktitut child-directed speech |
topic_facet |
child-directed speech morphological simplification polysynthesis Inuktitut first language acquisition nominalization Psychology BF1-990 |
description |
Caregivers typically use a simplified mode of the language – child-directed speech (CDS) – when addressing young children. In this study, we investigate the use of complex morphological structures with a word class change within a single word in Inuktitut CDS. Inuktitut is a polysynthetic agglutinative language of the Inuit–Yupik–Unangan language family spoken in arctic Quebec, which allows more than 10 morphemes per word and in which the meaning of an entire sentence can be expressed in one word. Clearly, such a complex morphological system presents special challenges for young children, which raises the question of whether caregivers shape their CDS in ways that facilitate acquisition. Using the data from mothers addressing eight Inuktitut-speaking children aged 0;11 to 3;6, we investigated whether the frequency and complexity of polysynthetic structures in CDS are dependent on the stage of the children’s linguistic development. The results demonstrate that the number and morphological complexity of the structures with a word class change increased as the children developed linguistically. The variety of nominalizers and verbalizers – the key components of such structures – also increased through the stages and were used in variation sets, which help children acquire morphological items by providing examples of use of the same morpheme in morphologically contrasting environments. These results show the presence of morphological simplification in Inuktitut CDS and demonstrate that such simplification is fine-tuned, i.e., that mothers are sensitive to their children’s level of linguistic development. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Olga Alice Johnson Shanley E. M. Allen |
author_facet |
Olga Alice Johnson Shanley E. M. Allen |
author_sort |
Olga Alice Johnson |
title |
The use of complex structures with a word class change in Inuktitut child-directed speech |
title_short |
The use of complex structures with a word class change in Inuktitut child-directed speech |
title_full |
The use of complex structures with a word class change in Inuktitut child-directed speech |
title_fullStr |
The use of complex structures with a word class change in Inuktitut child-directed speech |
title_full_unstemmed |
The use of complex structures with a word class change in Inuktitut child-directed speech |
title_sort |
use of complex structures with a word class change in inuktitut child-directed speech |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.971395 https://doaj.org/article/76fb968623c5424185a5a7f510b77cc3 |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic inuit Inuit–Yupik inuktitut Unangan Yupik |
genre_facet |
Arctic inuit Inuit–Yupik inuktitut Unangan Yupik |
op_source |
Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 13 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.971395/full https://doaj.org/toc/1664-1078 1664-1078 doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2022.971395 https://doaj.org/article/76fb968623c5424185a5a7f510b77cc3 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.971395 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Psychology |
container_volume |
13 |
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1766341626024689664 |