University of Sussex
Browse

File(s) not publicly available

Using corpora to investigate antonym acquisition

journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 23:58 authored by Steven Jones, Lynne MurphyLynne Murphy
In this study, a purpose-built corpus, containing both child-produced and child-directed speech, is used to conduct a longitudinal examination of antonym use among children from the age of two to five years old. Previous research has tended to approach antonym acquisition using either elicitation techniques or corpora of printed adult language. In contrast, this research focuses on the speech of preschool children in naturally-occurring interactions. The discourse functions of antonymy in child-produced and child-directed speech are quantified and compared with those identified in adult, written English (Jones 2002). Despite its complexity, Ancillary Antonymy is found to be most common in child-produced speech, even from the age of two, perhaps because of its particular usefulness in structuring ideas and discourse. This study presents a detailed inter-corpus comparison, assesses the discourse functions of antonymy at different stages of childhood, and discusses the correlation between antonym use in child-directed and child-produced speech

History

Publication status

  • Published

Journal

International Journal of Corpus Linguistics

ISSN

1384-6655

Issue

3

Volume

10

Page range

401-422

Pages

22.0

Department affiliated with

  • English Publications

Notes

Submission to First Language should replace this in RAE, if published in time.

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2012-02-06

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC