Developments in the acquisition of Wh-interrogatives in Cypriot Greek

Abstract

This cross-sectional study investigates the acquisition of the interpretation of syntactic and semantic aspects of wh-questions by Cypriot Greek-speaking children aged 4 to 9 years. Two experimental tools were employed, a question–picture-matching task examining the comprehension of D-linked and non-D-linked questions for subject and object, and a question-after-picture task examining the comprehension of the notion of exhaustivity in single and multiple wh-questions. The results from these experiments are interpreted in light of current theoretical advances and cross-linguistic comparisons. The apparent discrepancies found in the development of Greek Cypriot children’s comprehension of wh-questions and exhaustivity are put in perspective with their particular linguistic environment – diglossia, in which children grow up with two varieties, Cypriot Greek and Standard Modern Greek. Keywords: bilectalism; D(iscourse)-linking; first language acquisition; multiple wh-questions; single wh-questions