The emergence of present perfect verb forms: semantic influences on selective imitation
- 1 February 1985
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Journal of Child Language
- Vol. 12 (2) , 325-352
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000900006462
Abstract
This study investigates forms and functions of the perfect in 22 preschool children. Children retold and re-enacted two-sentence stories which modelled the perfect. Although the perfect appeared to be emerging in imitative speech, including certain ungrammatical forms, children varied in the extent to which they used it and appreciated its meaning of current relevance. Three factors were found to influence children's selective imitation and paraphrasing of the perfect: form of the verb (present perfect versus perfect progressive), semantic sense of the perfect, and duration of the lexical verb. Children's performance demonstrates the need to consider not only the developmental frequency of advanced, optional verb forms but the generality of their use and their relation to the child's lexicon.Keywords
This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit:
- Description and explanation in the acquisition of verb-formsJournal of Child Language, 1981
- Topic selection in parent‐child discourse∗Discourse Processes, 1979
- The acquisition of regular and irregular past tense formsJournal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1977
- Children's First Word CombinationsMonographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1976
- How children talk about what happenedJournal of Child Language, 1976
- On the interrelations of syntax and semanticsPsychological Research, 1976
- Deixis in memory for verb tenseJournal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 1973
- Time, tense and aspectCognition, 1973
- Contraction, Deletion, and Inherent Variability of the English CopulaLanguage, 1969
- Memory for semantic features in the verb.Journal of Experimental Psychology, 1969