The international project “Acquisition of Pre- and Protomorphology” is coordinated by professor Wolfgang Dressler (University of Vienna, Austrian Academy of Sciences) and has participants from about two dozen languages. This cross-linguistic project has as its aim to investigate the early phases of acquisition of morphologically rich languages and elaborate a theory of the first phases of the child’s morphosyntax. The ways in which language development is divided into premorphology, protomorphology and the more adult-like morphology proper are examined from different perspectives, likewise what is common (possibly universal) and what is language specific in the development. The very early phase before the detection of grammatical morphology is premorphology, during which the language acquisition starts with item-based learning. Protomorphology is a phase where children start to construct creatively morphological patterns of analogies and of first rules.
Linguists participating in the project:
- Wolfgang Dressler, Katharina Korecky-Kröll, Sabine Laaha and Sabine Sommer-Lolei (Austrian German)
- Dagmar Bittner (German)
- Marianne Kilani-Schoch (French)
- Ursula Stephany, Anastasia Christofidou and Evangelia Thomadaki (Greek)
- Ayhan Aksu-Koc and F. Nihan Ketrez (Turkish)
- Maria D. Voeikova, Natalia Gagarina, Viktoria Kazakovskaja and Elena Tribushinina (Russian)
- Klaus Laalo (Finnish, TAU)
- Reili Argus (Estonian)
- Johanna Johansen Ijäs (Saame)
- Hans Basbøll and Laila Kjærbæk (Danish)
- Dorit Ravid (Hebrew)
- Ineta Dabasinskiene, Laura Kamandulyte-Merfeldiene and Ingrida Balciuniene (Lithuanian)
- Katarzyna Dziubalska (Polish)
- Sabrina Noccetti (Italian)
- Carmen Aguirre (Spanish
- Steven Gillis (Dutch)
- Melita Kovacevic, Marijan Palmovic and Gordana Hrzica (Croatian)
- Barbara Pfeiler (Yucatec Maya)
- Teodor Petric, Maja Ljubic and Valentina Oblak (Slovenian)
In addition, researchers working on languages including Hungarian, Arabic, Swedish, Farsi, Huichol and Georgian have participated in the project.
Publications:
- Linguistic recycling in language acquisition: Child-directed speech and child speech in the study of language acquisition. (Authors: Klaus Laalo and Reili Argus). AILA Review 33 (2020: 85–102).
- First-language acquisition of synthetic compounds in Estonian, Finnish, German, Greek, Lithuanian, Russian, and Saami. (Authors: Wolfgang U. Dressler, Sabine Sommer-Lolei, Katharina Korecky-Kröll, Reili Argus, Ineta Dabasinskiene, Laura Kamandulyte-Merfeldiene, Johanna Ijäs, Viktoria Kazakovskaja, Klaus Laalo, and Evangelia Thomadaki). Morphology 27 (2019: 1), 409–429.
- Nominal Compound Acquisition. Ed. Wolfgang U. Dressler, F. Nihan Ketrez & Marianne Kilani-Schoch. John Benjamins Publishing Company 2017.
- Semantics and Morphology of Early Adjectives in First Language Acquisition. Ed. Elena Tribushinina, Maria Voeikova and Sabrina Noccetti. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015.
- On the role of morphological richness in the early development of noun and verb inflection. (17 authors). – First Language 31:4 pp. 461 – 479, November 2011.
- Development of Nominal Inflection in First Language Acquisition: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Studies in Language Acquisition 30. Ed. Ursula Stephany and Maria Voeikova. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2009.
- The Acquisition of Diminutives: A cross-linguistic perspective. Language Acquisition & Language Disorders 43. Ed. Ineta Savickiene & Wolfgang U. Dressler. John Benjamins, Amsterdam/Philadelphia 2007.
- Development of Verb Inflection in First Language Acquisition: A Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Studies on Language Acquisition 21. Ed. Dagmar Bittner, Wolfgang U. Dressler & Marianne Kilani-Schoch. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin/New York 2003.
- Pre- and Protomorphology: early phases of morphological development in nouns and verbs. Ed. Maria Voeikova & Wolfgang U. Dressler. Lincom Studies in Theoretical Linguistics 29. Lincom Europa, München 2002.
- Lapsen varhaiskielioppi ja miniparadigmat [The protogrammar and miniparadigms in child language]. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran Toimituksia 1309. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura. 286 s. 2011.
Recent activities:
Pre- and Protomorphology workshop, February 16th-17th, 2023, University of Vienna
Contact
Klaus Laalo
Professor
klaus.laalo@tuni.fi