The acquisition of tough-movement in English
In the acquisition of literature, it is traditionally claimed that <i>tough</i>-movement or <i>easy-to-please</i> constructions (hereafter, <i>tough</i> constructions or TCs) are particularly problematic for child speakers of English and are consequently late-acquired. While Carol Chomsky (1969) was the first to advance such a claim, on the basis of her experimental findings, the results of a number of subsequent studies have been taken to provide further support for this contention. Nevertheless, it has yet to be determined precisely why children find these structures so problematic. Cromer (1970) was the first to propose the now widely accepted claim that there are three clearly definable stages in the acquisition of the TC. In the Primitive-Rule Use stage, it is hypothesized that the child mistakenly assumes that co-reference holds between the subject of the TC and embedded infinitive PRO due to her reliance on the use of surface structure cues for the interpretation of the TC rather than syntactic ability. In the Intermediate stage, the child performed in an inconsistent or random manner when asked to interpret the TC, which is standardly taken to indicate that at least certain target-like knowledge of
Anderson, D. L.
The acquisition of tough-movement in English. In the acquisition of literature, it is traditionally claimed that <i>tough</i>-movement or <i>easy-to-please</i> constructions (hereafter, <i>tough</i> constructions or TCs) are particularly problematic for child speakers of English and are consequently late-acquired. While Carol Chomsky (1969) was the first to advance such a claim, on the basis of her experimental findings, the results of a number of subsequent studies have been taken to provide further support for this contention. Nevertheless, it has yet to be determined precisely why children find these structures so problematic. Cromer (1970) was the first to propose the now widely accepted claim that there are three clearly definable stages in the acquisition of the TC. In the Primitive-Rule Use stage, it is hypothesized that the child mistakenly assumes that co-reference holds between the subject of the TC and embedded infinitive PRO due to her reliance on the use of surface structure cues for the interpretation of the TC rather than syntactic ability. In the Intermediate stage, the child performed in an inconsistent or random manner when asked to interpret the TC, which is standardly taken to indicate that at least certain target-like knowledge of
acquisition movement english acquisition literature traditionally claim movement easy construction hereafter construction particularly problematic child speaker_english consequently late chomsky first advance claim basis experimental finding number subsequent study take provide support_contention nevertheless yet determine precisely child structure problematic first propose widely_accept claim clearly definable stage acquisition primitive rule use stage hypothesize child mistakenly assume reference hold subject embed infinitive pro due reliance use surface structure cue interpretation rather syntactic ability intermediate stage child perform inconsistent random manner ask interpret standardly take_indicate least certain target like knowledge