Finiteness in early but-clauses in German L1-acquisition

Abstract

Studies on L1- and L2-acquisition of German and Dutch have shown that the particles too/also and again hamper the realization of finiteness while the particle not promotes it. In this study the authors ask whether adversative but also affects the realization of finiteness. By applying a structural-functional approach to finiteness and its acquisition they investigate the morpho-syntactic development of aber-clauses in the first 12 months of aber-production in four monolingual German children. The analysis reveals that finiteness becomes realized in aber-clauses considerably later than in auch-clauses. Syntactically well-formed aber-clauses appear when finiteness becomes realized in main clauses not containing any particle or connective. However, it takes the children two to four more months to realize finiteness in the aber-clauses. The authors argue that the information-structural properties assumed to cause the delay raised by the particles too/also and again are not fully applicable to but. Particle-specific effects also have to be taken into consideration. In case of but this includes the complexity of information-structural alignment and discourse integration of the twofold contrast established by aber-clauses. Managing this communicative task reduces the capacities for realizing primarily structural conditions which are still not automatized.