Syntactic constructions in written discourse of seven to ten-year-old children

Osnovni cilj ove teze je da se ispita sposobnost produkcije i upotrebe različitih tipova rečeničnih konstrukcija koje se javljaju u pisanim radovima učenika mlađeg osnovnoškolskog uzrasta odnosno da se ispitaju postojeće razlike u sintaksičkoj strukturi tekstova koje su produkovali učenici uzrasta od sedam do deset godina. Takođe, cilj ove teze je da se dođe do relevantnih svojstava pisane rečenice na osnovu kojih mogu da se otkriju karakteristike sintaksičkog razvoja. Kao teorijska podloga za ovo istraživanje upotrebljene su činjenice koje se odnose na dosadašnja ispitivanja razvoja sintakse na mlađem osnovnoškolskom uzrastu ali i podaci do kojih se došlo ispitivanjem usvajanja pisanog diskursa. Studije stranih autora posvećene ovom pitanju nedvosmisleno ukazuju na to da se sa uzrastom i dužinom školovanja značajno menjaju kako kvantitativna, tako i kvalitativna obeležja iskaza koje učenici produkuju: što su deca starija i što se duže školuju, to su i sintaksičke konstrukcije koje produkuju u pisanom jeziku duže, složenije i raznovrsnije strukture. Ispitanici su bili podeljeni u 4 uzrasne grupe (ukupno 181 učenik) i svi su pisali po tri sastava tako da se korpus sastojao od ukupno 543 teksta. Analiza prikupljenog materijala obuhvatila je kvantitativne i kvalitativne parametre. Kao kvantitativni pokazatelji dužine teksta praćeni su prosečan broj reči, komunikativnih rečenica i klauza u tekstu, dok je dužina rečenice merena prosečnim brojem reči i klauza koje je sačinjavaju. Kvalitativnom analizom je registrovana i ispitivana pojava različitih rečeničnih tipova - jezgrenih, proširenih, zavisno složenih, naporedno složenih i višestruko složenih rečenica, kao što je utvrđena i frekvenca njihove upotrebe. Analizirane su i razlike među polovima u odnosu na ispitivane varijable...The most important aim of this thesis was to examine the production ability and various types of sentence constructions use, and they are presented in written works of younger primary school age children, that is, it examines the existing variations in texts syntactic structures which were produced by the children who were aged from seven to ten years. It is also the aim of this thesis, to understand the relevant features of written sentences, according to which, syntactic development characteristics could be revealed. As a theoretical base for this study, the facts, which are about contemporary research on syntax development in younger primary school age children, were used and also the data which were obtained by acquiring written discourse. The studies of world- wide authors which were dedicated to this issue, undoubtedly show that with aging and with education duration the quantitative as well as qualitative features of a discourse that pupils produce, change dramatically: as well as children aging, and their education duration, the syntactic constructions which are produced in written language were longer, more complex and with greater variety in structure. The examinees were divided in 4 various age groups (all together 181 pupils) and they were all writing 3 essays each, so the whole corpus consisted of totally 543 texts. The compiled material analysis included the quantitative and the qualitative examples. The quantitative indicators of text length - the average number of words was examined attended together with the number of communicative sentences and clauses in the text, while the sentence length was measured by an average number of words and average number of clauses that were the parts of sentences. Qualitative analysis registered the examined appearance of various sentence types – kernel sentences, simple sentences, complex sentences, compound sentences, and complex-compound sentences, and the frequency of their use was defined. The differences between sexes were analyzed, compared to examined variables..