The overgeneralization of non-finite complements to finite contexts: the case of decide.
Current views on the acquisition of PRO can roughly be divided into two areas: lexical and syntactic accounts. We present data on one verb, decide, that yields data that not only differs from the data for other similar verbs with the same children, but does not lend itself easily to either type of account. Data from a sentence elicitation task conducted with 20 typically-developing children (4;o-7;11), along with 3 case studies illustrate that children may not be assigning a referent for PRO in an adult-like manner for particular verbs. Instead they may be overgeneralizing the use of non-finite complements to finite contexts.
Owen
Amanda J
AJ
Department of Speech Pathology & Audiology, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52245, USA. amanda-owen@uiowa.edu
Leonard
Laurence B
LB
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D005793:Generalization, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D008297:Male; D014705:Verbal Behavior