Open AccessARE PROTOTYPICAL SEMANTIC CONCEPTS ACQUIRED FIRST?
Author(s) -
Nina Dragoslav Ilić Matijević
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
godišnjak filozofskog fakulteta u novom sadu/godišnjak filozofskog fakulteta u novom sadu
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2334-7236
pISSN - 0374-0730
DOI - 10.19090/gff.2020.5.75-94
Subject(s) - reciprocal , modal verb , object (grammar) , linguistics , reflexive verb , subject (documents) , verb , reflexivity , psychology , computer science , philosophy , social science , sociology , library science
The aim of the present research was to examine the production of three types of se-verbs at different stages of first language acquisition of Serbian. The verbs tested were true reflexive (e.g. oblačiti se ‘dress oneself’), true reciprocal (e.g. grliti se ‘hug each other’), and anti-causative verbs (e.g. otvoriti se ‘open’). None of the tested types is syntactically simple, because they do not involve a canonical linking of semantic roles and syntactic functions (agent-subject and patient-object). However, it was expected that true reflexive verbs would be acquired before true reciprocal and anti-causative verbs, because they are less complex. They are the only type that mirrors prototypical semantic concepts, although the agent and patient theta-roles are both mapped onto the subject. A total of sixty subjects belonging to three age groups (31-42, 43-55, 56-68 months-twenty participants in each group) took part in the research. The data collection technique was a verb elicitation task. The children were asked to name the activities presented in the pictures. The number of tested verbs was the same for each verb type. The initial hypothesis was confirmed, since the production of true reflexive verbs was the most accurate across groups.