Matches and mismatches in nominal morphology and agreement: Learning from the acquisition of Eegimaa

关于儿童学习语言的单词结构和语法特征所使用的策略，理论上的解释有很大的不同，但我们对可能性的认识受到现有关注的限制，这些关注与工业化国家有关的相对较少的语言。在这里，我们将研究可能以各种不同方式表达的语法特征和结构。语法特征的示例包括数字，例如单数和复数之间的区别，或性别，例如在像法语这样的语言中区分阳性和阴性，在单词的形状内表达的特征和相关联的项目。语法结构可以表现为名词短语中各个单词之间的一致性（例如，The cat purrs，其中'purrs'上的-s表示与cat的一致性，表示只有一只猫。本项目研究屈折形态学的习得，即，古杰莱语：古杰莱语Eegimaa中的语法特征和结构，反映在词的形式和相关的一致性上，古杰莱语Eegimaa是塞内加尔南部使用的尼日尔刚果门大西洋语系的一种语言这种语言有一个传统上被称为名词类系统的性别系统。具有复杂性别一致性的名词分类系统是刚果语的特征。在埃吉马语中，名词使用前缀来形成单数和复数。例如，ba-是ba-ginh“胸部”的单数标记，但它的复数标记是u-，如u-ginh“胸部”。具有相同单数前缀的名词，例如ba-，可以用不同的标记形成其复数（例如，bá-jur 'young woman'，复数sú-jur 'young women'）. Eegimaa具有复杂的性别和数字标记形态系统，这也反映在其协议系统中。目前关于儿童如何获得性别/名词类别标记和一致性的知识完全基于尼日尔刚果语系的班图语。目前还没有关于大西洋语言的研究，虽然在某些方面与班图语相似，但也有重要的差异。在这里，我们将研究影响儿童习得名词类形态和一致性的三个因素的影响，即：i）输入频率，根据该频率，儿童听到最多的形式将倾向于首先获得; ii）感知显著性，根据该频率，诸如重读音节的更显著的形式将倾向于首先获得;以及iii）形态透明度，根据这一点，容易确定意义的形式往往比意义较模糊的形式更容易习得。我们的研究将建立在班图语名词类系统习得的研究结果的基础上，并将旨在回答以下问题。儿童学习复杂的语言结构依靠什么策略？成人输入语言在Eegimaa中的形态学和一致性习得中的作用是什么？儿童如何科普来自其照顾者的语言输入的变化？他们学习不同的名词类标记的顺序是什么？我们将进行一项纵向研究，在这项研究中，我们将在三年内观察五名2至4岁的儿童与他们的照顾者的互动。在讲Eegimaa语的人中，照顾者包括儿童的父母、年长的兄弟姐妹和社区的其他成员。儿童白天的活动大多在户外进行。我们将在音频和视频上记录儿童的输出语音，并将数据与成人的儿童导向语音和成人导向语音（成人之间的互动）进行比较，这些数据是作为以前项目的一部分收集的。我们还将进行一项横断面研究，在3岁和4岁的两个时间点观察另外10名儿童的言语。这些研究将共同提供一个深入的外观和更广泛的概述在这一调查不足的领域的采购过程。

Theoretical accounts of the strategies used by children to learn the structures of words and grammatical features of languages differ considerably, but our knowledge of what is possible is limited by the existing focus on a relatively small number of languages associated with industrialized nations. Here, we will investigate grammatical features and structures that may be expressed in a variety of different ways. Examples of grammatical features include number, e.g. the distinction between singular and plural, or gender, e.g. distinguishing masculine and feminine in languages like French, features expressed within the shape of the word and associated items. Grammatical structure may be manifested in agreement across the separate words of a noun phrase (e.g. The cat purrs, where the -s on 'purrs' shows agreement with cat, indicating that there is only one cat.) This project investigates the acquisition of inflectional morphology, i.e., grammatical features and structures as reflected in the word forms and associated agreement, in Gújjolaay Eegimaa, a language of the Atlantic family of the Niger Congo phylum spoken in Southern Senegal. This language has a gender system of the type traditionally known as a noun class system. Noun class systems with complex gender agreement are characteristic of the Niger-Congo languages.In Eegimaa nouns use prefixes to form singular and plural. For example ba- is the singular marker for ba-ginh 'chest', but its plural marker is u- as in u-ginh 'chests'. Nouns which have the same singular prefix, e.g. ba-, can form their plural with a different marker (e.g., bá-jur 'young woman', plural sú-jur 'young women'). Eegimaa has a complex morphological system of gender and number marking which is also reflected in its agreement system. Current knowledge as to how children acquire gender/noun class marking and agreement is based entirely on the Bantu languages of the Niger Congo family. There are no studies available of Atlantic languages, which, though similar to Bantu in some ways, also have important differences.Here we will investigate the influence of the three factors found to affect children's acquisition of noun class morphology and agreement, namely:i) Input frequency, according to which the forms that children hear the most will tend to be acquired firstii) Perceptual salience, according to which more salient forms such as stressed syllables will tend to be acquired first, and iii) Morphological transparency, according to which forms whose meanings are easily determined will tend to be acquired more easily than those whose meanings are more obscure.Our study will build on findings on the acquisition of Bantu noun class systems, and will aim to answer questions such as the following. What strategies do children rely on to learn complex language structure? What is the role of adult input language in the acquisition of morphology and agreement in Eegimaa? How do children cope with variation in language input from their caregivers? In what order do they learn the different noun class markers?We will carry out a longitudinal study in which we will observe over three years the interactions of five children aged from about 2 to 4 years with their caregivers. Among Eegimaa speakers, caregivers include children's parents, older siblings and other members of the community. Children's daytime activities mostly take place outside their homes. We will record children's output speech on audio and video and compare the data with child-directed speech from adults and with adult-directed speech (interactions between adults), collected as part of a previous project. We will also carry out a cross-sectional study by twice observing the speech of ten additional children at two points, at ages 3 and 4 years. These studies together will provide both an in-depth look and a broader overview of the acquisition process in this under-investigated area.