Early verbal forms in Spanish

Abstract

The development of the first verb forms in children's speech is currently under debate. Some researchers have proposed a rapid acquisition of morphology and syntax as a result of the general linguistic knowledge which is part of our innate endowment. Others have proposed a gradual and piecemeal knowledge for the first use of verbs and verbal structures,
following the ccverb-island hypothesisu of Tomasello. This paper examines these issues in Spanish. Data from three monolingual Spanish children are analyzed. Children's ages are: from 1;3 to 2;6;fiom 1;8 to 2;l; and from 1 ;5 to 2;2. Our analysis showed gradual verbal learning for Spanish children,
with a veiy restricted use of productive verb type forms. This suggests a piecemeal learning of verbs, [.e. Spanish children start to use verbs one by one, with very specific forms. We also found that Spanish-speaking children's early verb structures are based on limited, verb-specific knowledge.
Finally, our results showed different patterns for each child.