The Acquisition of Functional Categories and the Implication for the Grammatical Theory

本项目通过语法习得的窗口来观察语言变异。基于对儿童产生的典型错误，即根不定式(类比)、格标错误、动词形式错误和名词短语过度生成的描述性研究，我们认为儿童在很小的时候就对其语言的形态句法特征和功能结构了如指掌，即使儿童产生错误的句子，儿童的中级习得阶段也被限制在人类语言允许的变异范围内。

This project views the language variation through the window of grammar acquisition. Based on the descriptive study of the typical errors children produce, i.e., Root Infinitive (analogues), Case-marking errors, erroneous verbal forms, and the overgeneration in Noun Phrases, we proposed that children know a great deal about the morpho-syntactic properties and the functional structure of their language at a very early age, and even if children produce erroneous sentences, children's intermediate acquisition stages are restricted within the permitted variation of human languages.