Agent control and the acquisition of event culmination in Basque, Dutch, English, Spanish and Mandarin

Angeliek  van Hout; Maria J. Arche; Hamida Demirdache; Isabel García del Real; Ainara García Sanz; Anna Gavarró; Lucía Gomez Marzo; Saar Hommes; Nina Kazanina; Jinhong Liu; Oana Lungu; Fabienne Martin; Iris M. Strangmann

Agent control and the acquisition of event culmination in Basque, Dutch, English, Spanish and Mandarin

Angeliek van Hout, Maria J. Arche, Hamida Demirdache, Isabel García del Real, Ainara García Sanz, Anna Gavarró, Lucía Gomez Marzo, Saar Hommes, Nina Kazanina, Jinhong Liu, Oana Lungu, Fabienne Martin, Iris M. Strangmann

Neurolinguistics and Language Development (NLD)

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic

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Abstract

In this paper we investigate if there is a connection between the acceptance of non-culmination in child language and a seemingly similar phenomenon in certain adult languages. In Mandarin, among other languages, adults accept telic-perfective clauses for non-culminating situations. The types of verbs that allow such readings are referred to as non-culminating accomplishments. Recently, novel developments in semantic theory have established that subject type plays a role in the acceptance of non-culmination in these languages. According to the Agent Control hypothesis (Demirdache & Martin 2015), denying the result as encoded by such accomplishment verbs is easier when the subject’s referent is an intentional Agent than when it is an inanimate Cause. Our study revisits non-target-like acceptance of non-culmination in learners by asking: does non-culmination in child language reflect the same cause as non-culmination in languages like Mandarin?

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 41st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development
Editors	Maria LaMendola, Jennifer Scott
Publisher	Cascadilla Press
Pages	323-332
Number of pages	10
ISBN (Print)	978-1-57473-076-0
Publication status	Published - 2017
Event	THE 41st ANNUAL BOSTON UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT - Boston University, Boston, United States Duration: 4-Nov-2016 → 6-Nov-2016 Conference number: 41st https://www.bu.edu/bucld/

Conference

Conference	THE 41st ANNUAL BOSTON UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT
Abbreviated title	BUCLD
Country/Territory	United States
City	Boston
Period	04/11/2016 → 06/11/2016
Internet address	https://www.bu.edu/bucld/

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Agent Control and the Acquisition of Event Culmination in Basque, Dutch, English, Spanish, and MandarinFinal publisher's version, 256 KBLicence: Unspecified

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van Hout, A., Arche, M. J., Demirdache, H., García del Real, I., García Sanz, A., Gavarró, A., Gomez Marzo, L., Hommes, S., Kazanina, N., Liu, J., Lungu, O., Martin, F., & Strangmann, I. M. (2017). Agent control and the acquisition of event culmination in Basque, Dutch, English, Spanish and Mandarin. In M. LaMendola, & J. Scott (Eds.), Proceedings of the 41st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 323-332). Cascadilla Press.

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title = "Agent control and the acquisition of event culmination in Basque, Dutch, English, Spanish and Mandarin",

abstract = "In this paper we investigate if there is a connection between the acceptance of non-culmination in child language and a seemingly similar phenomenon in certain adult languages. In Mandarin, among other languages, adults accept telic-perfective clauses for non-culminating situations. The types of verbs that allow such readings are referred to as non-culminating accomplishments. Recently, novel developments in semantic theory have established that subject type plays a role in the acceptance of non-culmination in these languages. According to the Agent Control hypothesis (Demirdache & Martin 2015), denying the result as encoded by such accomplishment verbs is easier when the subject{\textquoteright}s referent is an intentional Agent than when it is an inanimate Cause. Our study revisits non-target-like acceptance of non-culmination in learners by asking: does non-culmination in child language reflect the same cause as non-culmination in languages like Mandarin?",

author = "{van Hout}, Angeliek and Arche, {Maria J.} and Hamida Demirdache and {Garc{\'i}a del Real}, Isabel and {Garc{\'i}a Sanz}, Ainara and Anna Gavarr{\'o} and {Gomez Marzo}, Luc{\'i}a and Saar Hommes and Nina Kazanina and Jinhong Liu and Oana Lungu and Fabienne Martin and Strangmann, {Iris M.}",

year = "2017",

language = "English",

isbn = "978-1-57473-076-0",

pages = "323--332",

editor = "Maria LaMendola and Jennifer Scott",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 41st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development",

publisher = "Cascadilla Press",

note = "THE 41st ANNUAL BOSTON UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, BUCLD ; Conference date: 04-11-2016 Through 06-11-2016",

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van Hout, A, Arche, MJ, Demirdache, H, García del Real, I, García Sanz, A, Gavarró, A, Gomez Marzo, L, Hommes, S, Kazanina, N, Liu, J, Lungu, O, Martin, F & Strangmann, IM 2017, Agent control and the acquisition of event culmination in Basque, Dutch, English, Spanish and Mandarin. in M LaMendola & J Scott (eds), Proceedings of the 41st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development. Cascadilla Press, pp. 323-332, THE 41st ANNUAL BOSTON UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT, Boston, United States, 04/11/2016.

Agent control and the acquisition of event culmination in Basque, Dutch, English, Spanish and Mandarin. / van Hout, Angeliek ; Arche, Maria J.; Demirdache, Hamida et al.
Proceedings of the 41st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development. ed. / Maria LaMendola; Jennifer Scott. Cascadilla Press, 2017. p. 323-332.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › Academic

TY - GEN

T1 - Agent control and the acquisition of event culmination in Basque, Dutch, English, Spanish and Mandarin

AU - van Hout, Angeliek

AU - Arche, Maria J.

AU - Demirdache, Hamida

AU - García del Real, Isabel

AU - García Sanz, Ainara

AU - Gavarró, Anna

AU - Gomez Marzo, Lucía

AU - Hommes, Saar

AU - Kazanina, Nina

AU - Liu, Jinhong

AU - Lungu, Oana

AU - Martin, Fabienne

AU - Strangmann, Iris M.

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N2 - In this paper we investigate if there is a connection between the acceptance of non-culmination in child language and a seemingly similar phenomenon in certain adult languages. In Mandarin, among other languages, adults accept telic-perfective clauses for non-culminating situations. The types of verbs that allow such readings are referred to as non-culminating accomplishments. Recently, novel developments in semantic theory have established that subject type plays a role in the acceptance of non-culmination in these languages. According to the Agent Control hypothesis (Demirdache & Martin 2015), denying the result as encoded by such accomplishment verbs is easier when the subject’s referent is an intentional Agent than when it is an inanimate Cause. Our study revisits non-target-like acceptance of non-culmination in learners by asking: does non-culmination in child language reflect the same cause as non-culmination in languages like Mandarin?

AB - In this paper we investigate if there is a connection between the acceptance of non-culmination in child language and a seemingly similar phenomenon in certain adult languages. In Mandarin, among other languages, adults accept telic-perfective clauses for non-culminating situations. The types of verbs that allow such readings are referred to as non-culminating accomplishments. Recently, novel developments in semantic theory have established that subject type plays a role in the acceptance of non-culmination in these languages. According to the Agent Control hypothesis (Demirdache & Martin 2015), denying the result as encoded by such accomplishment verbs is easier when the subject’s referent is an intentional Agent than when it is an inanimate Cause. Our study revisits non-target-like acceptance of non-culmination in learners by asking: does non-culmination in child language reflect the same cause as non-culmination in languages like Mandarin?

M3 - Conference contribution

SN - 978-1-57473-076-0

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EP - 332

BT - Proceedings of the 41st Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development

A2 - LaMendola, Maria

A2 - Scott, Jennifer

PB - Cascadilla Press

T2 - THE 41st ANNUAL BOSTON UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE DEVELOPMENT

Y2 - 4 November 2016 through 6 November 2016

ER -