Constructing "basic" verbal constructions: a longitudinal study of the blossoming of constructions with six frequent verbs

In the course of their development, children make their way along successive transitory systems with their own internal coherence. This phenomenon can be observed at all levels of linguistic analysis but the gradual assembling of verbal constructions in language development is of particular interest for linguistic theory. In this study, the development of verb constructions in young French speaking children is analyzed by focusing on spontaneous language data from three children (Leonard, Madeleine, Théophile) age 1;06 up to 3;06. The focus of the work is on six specific verbs which are quite frequent in young child speech (all children produced these verbs) and which clearly present different patterns of verbal constructions. The first set of verbs, attendre (to wait) and tenir (to hold), are used in nearly only one type of construction although these two verbs do (infrequently) occur in adult language in other types of constructions. The frequent construction used by all children is an imperative form with a meaning slightly disconnected from the original core meaning of the verb ("tiens" meaning "here!" in English, "attends" meaning "wait"). In some way, this form can be interpreted as a zero argument form and considered more as a pragmatic element than a true verbal element. Being in the imperative form, it is highly specific as it goes against the standard pattern of French where subjects are usually produced with all verb forms. The second set of verbs, mettre (to put) and enlever (to remove), are standard verbs with a pattern of two or three arguments, an agent (the subject), a patient (the object), and a reflexive pronoun (the subject is the recipient of the action) or a recipient of the action controlled by a preposition, à (to). Children start to use these verbs with one or two arguments but the arguments are initially only pronouns. When an optional argument is used (the oblique argument indicating place), it usually takes the place of the patient. Complex constructions with three arguments appear very late in language development and always include one or two arguments expressed as pronouns. The third set of verbs, dire (to say) and donner (to give), are in principle verbs with three arguments: an agent (the subject), a patient (the object), and a recipient (the oblique argument with the preposition à (to)). However these verbs do not follow this theoretical pattern. Both verbs can be used as a 0arg pragmatic marker (as for attendre and tenir) but only donner is found in this form in the data. Both verbs follow a pattern similar to the more general verbs mettre and enlever. Most forms have only one or two arguments and these arguments are often pronouns. They can also be replaced by oblique arguments. Constructions with three arguments are unusual, even in the production of children with the most advanced language. Dire presents specific characteristics because it can be used to introduce direct speech and its 'object' can take a very complex form. Despite the differences between the verbal constructions of the six common verbs analysed above, the development of verbal constructions in young children follows a similar pattern. Some specific verb constructions are learned first and used in a highly frequent pattern. These patterns most often include pronouns. They belong to a specific subset: the most 'simple' constructions that can be produced with these verbs. Other constructions appear infrequently and much later. They seem to be more variable than the frequent constructions, in the sense that they are less adultlike. It is often necessary to look into the contingencies of the conversation or the history of the child's earlier production to understand how the children produced them. They form a more productive part of children's language, although they do not seem to be the most frequent mode for spontaneous production. This opposition between frequent construction and unusual production is probably a key to understand children's language development, as it offers them both a way to enter quickly and efficiently into language, and a way to be more "creative" and produce their own forms. These two types of productions may represent the evidence of a dual process which participates in the dynamics of language acquisition: taking advantage of frequent forms, and creating new language material