Nordic Journal of Linguistics

Table of Contents - December 2011 - Volume 34, Issue 03  

Research Article

Moving in small steps towards verb second: A case study

Christian Waldmanna1

a1 Umeå University, Department of Language Studies, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden. christian.waldmann@nord.umu.se

Abstract

This paper examines rule-based learning and item-based learning in relation to a Swedish child's acquisition of verb second in main clauses. While rule-based accounts assert that young children have access to syntactic structure and acquire a rule of generalized verb second, item-based accounts claim that young children are reproducing frequent word combinations in the input. The paper provides new and important data from one Swedish child, concluding that the acquisition of verb second is the result of rule-based learning.

Keywords