Markedness and the Acquisition of Pied-Piping and Preposition Stranding

Abstract

This paper will discuss two hypotheses of markedness in acquisition theory and the implications which they have for the way in which children might acquire unmarked and marked structures. According to the "developmental hypothesis", the child initially adopts an unmarked structure (in advance of any data), and only later is the marked structure adopted. The "learnability hypothesis” of markedness states that the unmarked form is chosen in the absence of evidence to the contrary. Unlike the developmental hypothesis it does not necessarily imply that children should proceed in an unmarked to marked sequence.

In the syntactic literature it is generally agreed that pied-piping is unmarked and preposition stranding is marked. Twenty-eight children from three to five years old were tested on their comprehension and production of pied-piping and preposition stranding The results indicate that children have simultaneously acquired both structures as can be consistent with the learnability hypothesis. This paper questions the developmental theory of markedness as an explanation for real-time acquisition.