Premium
DATIVE ALTERNATION AND THE ANALYSIS OF DATA: A REPLY TO MAZURKEWICH 1
Author(s) -
Kellerman Eric
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1985.tb01016.x
Subject(s) - markedness , alternation (linguistics) , dative case , linguistics , strengths and weaknesses , psychology , presentation (obstetrics) , philosophy , social psychology , medicine , radiology
This paper is a commentary on Mazurkewich's article on dative alternation and second language acquisition (1984). It suggests that there are a number of weaknesses in the article as regards (a) examples purporting to illustrate the workings of dative alternation, (b) choice of subjects in the experiment and the elicitation format used, and, most importantly, (c) the presentation and statistical treatment of the data. These weaknesses, it is argued, do not permit Mazurkewich to claim that her theory of markedness will also predict which dative structure ([NP PP] or [NP NP]) will be easier to acquire by second language learners.