Format:
Online-Ressource
ISBN:
3110185911
Series Statement:
Studies on Language Acquisition 22
Content:
Insa Gülzow analyzes the acquisition of intensifiers by children acquiring German or English as their first language. Based on a comparative analysis of intensifiers and related expressions in the two languages, she examines the longitudinal production data of six German-speaking and six English-speaking children with regard to when and in which contexts the intensifiers German selbst/selber and English x-self (myself, yourself, himself, etc.) appear. As intensifiers evoke alternatives to the referent of their focus and relate a central referent to more peripheral alternative referents, they are an important linguistic means to structure the participants of a child's early discourse. By integrating intensifiers into their utterances, children can identify themselves as central. The notion of being included or excluded in a certain state of affairs is relevant for children when interacting with their parents and/or other children. In the course of development, children acquire a number of both linguistic and non-linguistic skills that characterize them as increasingly independent and competent agents. In this process, intensifiers are an important linguistic device with which children can negotiate and comment on their participation in a given event. The three parts of the volume consist first, of a detailed analysis of the intensifiers selbst/selber and x-self and related expressions such as allein and by x-self in the two languages. Special attention is given to the fact that in English, intensifiers and reflexive pronouns are identical expressions while in German they are distinct. Second, previous results of comprehension studies are carefully reviewed in order to relate them to the findings in longitudinal production data. Third, a detailed analysis of the children's early use of intensifiers and related expressions is presented.
Note:
In English
Additional Edition:
ISBN 3110185911
Additional Edition:
Erscheint auch als Druck-Ausgabe Gülzow, Insa, 1967 - The acquisition of intensifiers Berlin [u.a.] : Mouton de Gruyter, 2006 ISBN 3110185911
Additional Edition:
ISBN 9783110185911
Language:
English
Subjects:
Comparative Studies. Non-European Languages/Literatures
Keywords:
Englisch
;
Spracherwerb
;
Steigerungspartikel
;
Reflexivität
;
Deutsch
DOI:
10.1515/9783110197655
URL:
Volltext
(lizenzpflichtig)
Author information:
Gülzow, Insa 1967-
