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The emergence of complex sentences in a French child's language from 0;10 to 4;01: causal adverbial clauses and the concertina effect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2012

MARTINE SEKALI
MARTINE SEKALI*
Affiliation:
University of Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense
*
Address for correspondence: Martine Sekali, UFR Langues, Littérature, Civilisation, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, 200 Avenue de la République, 92001 Nanterre cedex, France e-mail: sekali@u-paris10.fr
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Abstract

This article tests Diessel's ‘integration’ path of development of adverbial clauses (cf. Diessel, 2004), with special focus on the acquisition of ‘causal’ adverbial clauses, in the context of the overall development of grammatical/semantic complexification in a French child's longitudinal corpus of spontaneous speech (Madeleine, Paris Corpus) from 10 months to 4;01 years old. Three main patterns are retrieved in the child's uses of parce que constructions in interactional contexts. Linguistic analysis of these constructions reveals a dynamic pattern of syntactic expansion, integration and diversification, here called the concertina effect, which may provide an insight into the cognitive and pragmatic motives for syntax development in first language acquisition of French.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of French Language Studies , Volume 22 , Special Issue 1: First language acquisition of French grammar (from 10 months to 4 years old) , March 2012 , pp. 115 - 141
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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