Wh-in-situ in child French: Deictic triggers at the syntax-semantics interface

Abstract

AbstractThis article investigates the development ofwh-in-situ questions in French by examining a three-year kindergarten dataset of spontaneous productions with 16 children between 2;5 and 5;11. The distribution of thewh-phrases is statistically examined in relation to age, verb form (Fixedbeformc’est‘it is’ vs. Freebeforms vs. Free lexical verbs), and grammatical category of thewh-word (Pronoun vs. Adverb). Results show thatwh-in-situ remains prevalent throughout the period despite a steady increase inwh-ex-situ. Verb form (Fixed vs. All free forms) is a discriminating variable for thewh-position in all three years, and it interacts with the category of thewh-word. The Fixedbeformc’estfavours in-situwh-pronouns (c’est qui Taz ?), whereas the Free forms favourwh-ex-situ questions, and massively co-occur withwh-adverbs (combien ça coûte ?). The emergence of the ex-situqu’est-ce que‘what is it that’, as opposed to the in-situquoi‘what’, is identified as a factor accounting for the gradual increase inwh-ex-situ. Finally, most outliers (wh-in-situ with Free forms) are shown to belong to the same paradigm asc’estin-situ questions: non-presuppositional questions, which are visible from the frequent use oflà‘there’, likec’est, a deictic item.