Abstract
This paper focuses on antonym pairs in child Dutch. Children sometimes erroneously use the opposite word from what they intend to mean with <±polar> pairs. Psycholinguistic studies in the 1970ties suggest that the <−polar> member of dimensional adjectives, motion verbs and temporal adverbs is acquired before the <+polar> one.
Another error occurs with the expression of absence. Dutch and German children sometimes say met zonder/mit ohne (‘with without’) as the antonym expression of met/mit. Sauerland, Meyer & Yatsushiro (2023) argue that the <−polar> negative member ohne can be conceptually decomposed in the positive member plus negation (mit-NEG), which children fail to see. They ‘undercompress’ negation. The decomposition also holds for the <−polar> member of dimensional adjectives (NEG-Adj).
I will argue against both claims, the acquisition order and the undercompression idea. First, I discuss the met zonder/mit ohne data and offer an alternative analysis. Subsequently, other errors with <±polar> pairs are considered.
Another error occurs with the expression of absence. Dutch and German children sometimes say met zonder/mit ohne (‘with without’) as the antonym expression of met/mit. Sauerland, Meyer & Yatsushiro (2023) argue that the <−polar> negative member ohne can be conceptually decomposed in the positive member plus negation (mit-NEG), which children fail to see. They ‘undercompress’ negation. The decomposition also holds for the <−polar> member of dimensional adjectives (NEG-Adj).
I will argue against both claims, the acquisition order and the undercompression idea. First, I discuss the met zonder/mit ohne data and offer an alternative analysis. Subsequently, other errors with <±polar> pairs are considered.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 117-132 |
Journal | Nota Bene |
Volume | 1 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2024 |
Keywords
- antonym errors acquisition
- CHILDES
- <±polar> antonympairs
- absolute met-construction
- dimensional adjectives