Comprehension of Negation in Child and Adult Speakers of Spanish and German (C06)

我们的项目研究了一种假设，即否定的形态句法表达的跨语言差异可能导致不同类型语言中否定的加工和获得方式的差异。具体来说，我们比较了德语和西班牙语中的否定：在西班牙语中，否定词的表面位置在句子的前面，在限定动词之前。在德语中，否定句出现在限定动词之后。此外，西班牙语的否定句仅局限于一个前置位置，而德语的否定句则可能出现在不同的表面位置。我们研究这些跨语言差异是否影响成人的理解和儿童的习得。

Our project investigates the assumption that cross-linguistic differences in the morphosyntactic expression of negation can lead to differences in how negation is processed and acquired in typologically different languages. Specifically, we compare negation in German and Spanish: in Spanish, the surface position of the negator is early in the sentence, before the finite verb. In German, the negator appears late and after the finite verb. Moreover, sentential negation in Spanish is restricted to one, preverbal, position, whereas the sentential negator in German may appear in different surface positions. We examine whether these cross-linguistic differences affect adult comprehension and child acquisition.