Acquisition of polarity items in Czech children: An experimental study

Linda Doleží

Masaryk University, The Czech Republic

Linda Doleží is a language teacher and teacher trainer. She works as an Assistant Professor at Masaryk University Language Centre and at the Department of Czech Language of Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University. She focuses on teaching methodology, language acquisition and psycho- and neurolinguistics in multilingual contexts. Her current interests include language attrition phenomena and the role of emotions and trauma in language acquisition and attrition.


https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4617-5490

Petra Kurfürstová

Masaryk University, The Czech Republic

Petra Kurfürstová is a graduate of upper secondary school teacher training in Czech language and literature at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University. In her M. A. thesis she dealt with the acquisition of scalar particles i and ani in Czech children. During her studies she was interested not only in child language acquisition and in teaching methodology but also in teaching Czech as a second language.


https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2846-956X

Iveta Šafratová

Masaryk University, The Czech Republic; Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany

Iveta Šafratová is a second-year doctoral student in a joint supervision of doctoral studies at the Department of Linguistics at Masaryk University and at the Seminar for English Philology at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. She focuses on the syntaxsemantic-pragmatic interface and she is also interested in experimental linguistics. She is working on negation, especially scalar particles and polarity items in Czech.


https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8437-1738


Abstract

The Czech polarity items i and ani are traditionally treated as English even. This paper deals with the acquisition of these polarity items in Czech children. These focus/scalar particles are specific for their sensitivity to probability. We aim to find out whether Czech children at primary school (junior school age) have already acquired i/ani and whether they are able to connect them correctly with alternatives on the scale of probability. The research was conducted with children from the second and the fourth grade at primary school. The paper represents an initial insight into this area since no similar research has been done in the Czech language so far.

Keywords:

language acquisition, focus particles, scalar particles, experimental linguistics, language teaching

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Published
2020-09-30


Doleží, L., Kurfürstová, P. and Šafratová, I. (2020) “Acquisition of polarity items in Czech children: An experimental study”, Crossroads. A Journal of English Studies, (30), pp. 39–56. doi: 10.15290/cr.2020.30.3.03.

Linda Doleží 
Masaryk University, The Czech Republic

Linda Doleží is a language teacher and teacher trainer. She works as an Assistant Professor at Masaryk University Language Centre and at the Department of Czech Language of Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University. She focuses on teaching methodology, language acquisition and psycho- and neurolinguistics in multilingual contexts. Her current interests include language attrition phenomena and the role of emotions and trauma in language acquisition and attrition.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4617-5490
Petra Kurfürstová 
Masaryk University, The Czech Republic

Petra Kurfürstová is a graduate of upper secondary school teacher training in Czech language and literature at the Faculty of Arts at Masaryk University. In her M. A. thesis she dealt with the acquisition of scalar particles i and ani in Czech children. During her studies she was interested not only in child language acquisition and in teaching methodology but also in teaching Czech as a second language.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2846-956X
Iveta Šafratová 
Masaryk University, The Czech Republic; Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany

Iveta Šafratová is a second-year doctoral student in a joint supervision of doctoral studies at the Department of Linguistics at Masaryk University and at the Seminar for English Philology at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. She focuses on the syntaxsemantic-pragmatic interface and she is also interested in experimental linguistics. She is working on negation, especially scalar particles and polarity items in Czech.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8437-1738