Polish children's productivity with case marking: the role of regularity, type frequency, and phonological diversity
Abstract
57 Polish-speaking children aged from 2;4, to 4;8 and 16 adult controls participated in a nonce-word inflection experiment testing their ability to use the genitive, dative and accusative inflections productively. Results show that this ability develops early: the majority of two-year-olds were already productive with all inflections apart from dative neuter; and the overall performance of the four-year-olds was very similar to that of adults. All age groups were more productive with inflections that apply to large and/or phonologically diverse classes, although class size and token frequency appeared to be more important for younger children (two- and three-year-olds) and phonological diversity for older children and adults. Regularity, on the other hand, was a very poor predictor of productivity. The results support usage-based models of language acquisition and are problematic for the dual mechanism model.
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There is a correlation between the input frequency of Polish noun case-marking inflections and children's correct performance with novel noun inflection.
“For example, Dabrowska and Szczerbinkski (2006) found a correlation between the input frequency of genitive, dative, and accusative Polish noun case-marking inflections, and children's correct performance with novel noun inflection.”
From The ubiquity of frequency effects in first language acquisition (2015) · cites this paper as Dabrowska and Szczerbinkski (2006)
Clear effects of input frequency on correct use in inflectional morphology are found in both naturalistic and experimental studies.
“When this prediction is tested, clear effects of input frequency are found, in both naturalistic (e.g. Theakston, Lieven, Pine & Rowland, 2005; Theakston & Lieven, 2005, 2008; Theakston & Rowland, 2009) and experimental studies (e.g. Leonard, Caselli & Devescovi, 2002; Dabrowska & Szczerbinski, 2006; Räsänen, Ambridge & Pine, 2014).”
From The ubiquity of frequency effects in first language acquisition (2015) · cites this paper as Dabrowska & Szczerbinski, 2006
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The ubiquity of frequency effects in first language acquisition
AMBRIDGE, B., KIDD, E., ROWLAND, C. F., & THEAKSTON, A. L. (2015) · Journal of Child Language · doi:10.1017/s030500091400049x · Cited by 589 · see citing works
How diverse is child language acquisition research?
Kidd, E., & Garcia, R. (2022) · First Language · doi:10.1177/01427237211066405 · Cited by 283 · see citing works
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Ambridge, B. (2020) · First Language · doi:10.1177/0142723719869731 · Cited by 185 · see citing works
- Authors
- DĄBROWSKA, E., & SZCZERBIŃSKI, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Sheffield (GB)
- Venue
- Journal of Child Language
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 2006-08
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 559-597
- ISSN
- 0305-0009 (ISSN-L)
- 1469-7602
- OpenAlex
- W2114019212
- Cited by
- 189
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 62
- FWCI
- 5.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Child Language (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Cork Open Research Archive (University College Cork, Ireland) (publishedVersion)
- Northumbria Research Link (Northumbria University) (acceptedVersion)
- Arrow@dit (Dublin Institute of Technology) (acceptedVersion)
- Cork Open Research Archive (University College Cork, Ireland) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Language Development and Disorders
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › Syntax, Semantics, Linguistic Variation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Categorization, perception, and language
- Keywords
- case inflection, genitive case, dative case, accusative case, language acquisition, child language acquisition, nonce words, usage-based models, dual-mechanism model, regularity, type frequency, phonological diversity, class size, token frequency
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Age Factors, Child Language, Child, Preschool, Female, Humans, Linguistics, Male, Phonetics, Regression Analysis, Case-Control Studies
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