Constructing "basic" verbal constructions: a longitudinal study of the blossoming of constructions with six frequent verbs
type: Dataset
description: In the course of their development, children make their way along successive transitory systems with their own internal coherence. This phenomenon can be observed at all levels of linguistic analysis but the gradual assembling of verbal constructions in language development is of particular interest for linguistic theory. In this study, the development of verb constructions in young French speaking children is analyzed by focusing on spontaneous language data from three children (Leonard, Madeleine, Théophile) age 1;06 up to 3;06. The focus of the work is on six specific verbs which are quite frequent in young child speech (all children produced these verbs) and which clearly present different patterns of verbal constructions. The first set of verbs, attendre (to wait) and tenir (to hold), are used in nearly only one type of construction although these two verbs do (infrequently) occur in adult language in other types of constructions. The frequent construction used by all children is an imperative form with a meaning slightly disconnected from the original core meaning of the verb ("tiens" meaning "here!" in English, "attends" meaning "wait"). In some way, this form can be interpreted as a zero argument form and considered more as a pragmatic element than a true verbal element. Being in the imperative form, it is highly specific as it goes against the standard pattern of French where subjects are usually produced with all verb forms. The second set of verbs, mettre (to put) and enlever (to remove), are standard verbs with a pattern of two or three arguments, an agent (the subject), a patient (the object), and a reflexive pronoun (the subject is the recipient of the action) or a recipient of the action controlled by a preposition, à (to). Children start to use these verbs with one or two arguments but the arguments are initially only pronouns. When an optional argument is used (the oblique argument indicating place), it usually takes the place of the patient. Comple…
landing page: Constructions in French
keyword: book-sections
keyword: french-language-acquisition
keyword: french-verbal-constructions
keyword: infoeu-reposemanticsbookpart
keyword: language-acquisition
keyword: shslanguehumanities-and-social-scienceslinguistics
issued: 2026-05-15T09:33:11.610068
modified: 2026-05-15T09:33:11.610073
language: en
contact point: Organization
  fn: CCSD

test_moissonnage_selune
type: Agent

Constructing "basic" verbal constructions: a longitudinal study of the blossoming of constructions with six frequent verbs
type: Distribution
format: HTML
access URL: https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00773197
issued: 2026-05-15T09:33:11.628330
modified: 2026-05-15T09:33:11.596441