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Input–output relations in Hebrew verb acquisition at the morpho-lexical interface

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2019

Orit ASHKENAZI ,
Steven GILLIS  and
Dorit RAVID
Orit ASHKENAZI*
Affiliation:
Tel Aviv University, Israel
Steven GILLIS
Affiliation:
Antwerp University, Belgium
Dorit RAVID
Affiliation:
Tel Aviv University, Israel
*
*Corresponding author: Tel Aviv University – School of Education, Tel Aviv, Israel. E-mail: orit.ashkenazi@gmail.com
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Abstract

This study examined early Hebrew verb acquisition, highlighting CDS–CS relations across inflectional and derivational verb learning. It was carried out on a corpus of longitudinal dense dyadic interactions of two Hebrew-speaking toddlers aged 1;8–2;2 and their parents. Findings revealed correlated patterns within and between CDS and CS corpora in terms of verbs, structural root categories, and their components (roots, binyan conjugations, and derivational verb families), and clear relations between lexical-derivational development and inflectional growth in input–output relations, measured by MSP. It also showed that both corpora had few, yet highly semantically coherent, derivational families. Lexical learning in Hebrew was shown to be morphologically oriented, with both inflectional and derivational learning supporting and being supported by the development of the verb lexicon. These findings support findings in the general literature regarding the close relationship between parental input and child speech, and the affinity between lexical and grammatical growth.

Keywords

verb acquisitionmorphologylexiconCDS–CS relationsHebrew
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , May 2020 , pp. 509 - 532
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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