Research
Acquisition of Plural Morphology in Spanish.
This project compares the acquisition of plural morphology in two varieties of Spanish: Chilean Spanish where the plural morpheme is sometimes produced and sometimes omitted on plural noun phrases due to syllable final /s/ lenition and Mexican Spanish, where the plural morpheme is always produced on all plural noun phrases. We ask whether and how these differences in input will affect development of plural morphology and verbal agreement in the two groups of Spanish-speaking children. See pictures of our lab in Southern Chile. This project is currently being supported by the National Science Foundation and a Calvin College Research Fellowship.
Acquisition of Agreement in English.
This project examines the effect of auxiliary omission ("You wanna eat?" vs. "Do you wanna eat?") and lack of agreement ("She doesn't know" vs. "She don't know") in the input on English-speaking children's ability to comprehend and produce questions with the auxiliaries 'do' and 'does'. This project is currently being supported by the Calvin College Center for Social Research.
Collaborators
Carolina Holtheuer (University of Canberra)
Alan Munn (Michigan State University)
Cristina Schmitt (Michigan State University)