The Acquisition of K'iche' Mayan

1976年至1979年和1987年夏季，研究者在危地马拉的田野调查中收集了玛雅语K'iche的获取数据。这些数据具有重要意义，因为它们提供了与英语和其他语言习得数据的大量对比。主要数据集提供了三个2至4岁的K‘iche’儿童9个月的语言发展纵向样本，这些数据已输入计算机以帮助分析。在本次资助期间，研究者将返回危地马拉收集更多的相关数据，并在返回时继续分析数据，并准备一篇专题论文，总结K‘iche’语音、形态学和句法的习得情况，并讨论儿童在习得这门语言时面临的一些可学性问题。该专著将为其他研究人员提供一个易于获取的关于类型学上有趣语言习得的发现摘要。儿童语言习得的研究现在已经到了这样一个阶段，从其他语言中获取数据是至关重要的，这些语言在结构上与英语和其他最常研究的语言非常不同。复杂的理论模型已经被开发出来，这些理论模型提出了具体的经验主张，必须针对广泛的数据进行测试，并在必要时进行修改，以便使我们更接近于真正理解语言习得过程。目前的项目是对这一需求的重大贡献，重点是学习一门语言，K'iche'，它与英语有着根本的结构差异，可以预期在重要方面挑战当前的理论。

ABSTRACT The investigator collected data on the acquisition of the Mayan language K'iche' during fieldwork in Guatemala from 1976 to 1979, and during the summer of 1987. The data are significant for the number of contrasts they provide to data on the acquisition of English and other languages. The primary data set provides a nine-month longitudinal sample of the language development of three K'iche' children between 2 and 4 years of age, which has been entered onto a computer to aid in analysis. During the period of the present grant, the investigator will return to Guatemala to collect additional pertinent data, and on return will proceed with the analysis of the data and the preparation of a monograph summarizing the acquisition of phonology, morphology, and syntax in K'iche' and discussing some of the learnability problems children face in acquiring this language. The monograph will provide other researchers with a readily accessible summary of findings on the acquisition of a typologically interesting language. %%% The study of the acquisition of language by children has now reached the stage where it is crucial to obtain data from other languages which are structurally very different from English and the other languages which have been most commonly studied. Complex theoretical models have been developed which make specific empirical claims which must be tested against a broad range of data, and modified where necessary, in order to bring us closer to a true understanding of the language acquisition process. The present project is a significant contribution to this need, focusing on the acquisition of a language, K'iche', which has fundamental structural differences from English which can be expected to challenge current theory in important respects.