The Acquisition of Morphophonology

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Abstract
A model is presented which details the ways in which children in different language communities acquire the morphophonological structure of their languages. In this model, the processes of rote, combination, and analogy are integrated into a single processing goal stack. The model views learning as a cyclical process in which acquisition leads to application, application leads to correction, and correction leads to renewed acquisition. The processes of acquisition, application, and correction are formulated in relatively precise terms. The present report seeks to provide a detailed characterization of the acquisition of the linguistic system called morphophonology. It attempts to do this by describing a set of universally human abilities which are involved in the acquisition of morphophonology. This report is divided into 7 major chapters. The 1st chapter briefly examines the role of rote, analogy, and combination in earlier characterizations of language acquisition. The 2nd chapter develops these characterizations into account which will be called the dialectic model because of the emphasis it places on the continuing resolution of opposites. Chapters III-V examine data from Hungarian, Finnish, and German, respectively. Chapter VI examines data from English, French, Latvian, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, and Chinese. The final chapter summarizes and evaluates the successes and failures of the substantive claims deriving from the model.

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