It is the goal of this paper to examine the acquisition of the future tense in
children’s speech. After a two word utterance stage they develop more and
more their speaking skills and start to talk about events and activities in the
future, apart from saying things about the present. To give a detailed account
of the acquisition of the future, this study includes several steps of
examination. It will not only try to answer to the questions, when children first
use future expressions and how their use develops in time. But it also includes
an analysis of the occurrence of future tense in specific constructions, such as
simple sentences, questions etc. It is also necessary to look at verbs as well as
subjects which occur with expressions of future tense. A last part of the study
is concerned with common errors children produce when speaking about the
future.
There exist several ways to express the future in adult grammar. The most
common forms, which are also the focus of this analysis, are the simple future
expressed by will and the going to-future. Other possibilities of expressing the
future, e.g. using simple present tense or a present progressive form of the
verb, will be neglected in this paper, as they are too complex in their concepts
for children. They mainly depend on adverbials of time to denote the future
and therefore would require a different focus of analysis.
The simple future is formed with the modal auxiliary will, followed by the
infinitive of a verb (e.g. Greenbaum 1991: 54), as in
(a) I will write the exam.
The will-future is used to convey two different concepts: first, it is used for
expressing general predictions and assumptions of what is going to happen in
the future and second, it marks spontaneous decisions, offers and promises.
(cf. Fleischhack 2001: 70).
The second form of expressing future tense is the combination of the
infinitive of a verb with a form of be going to, such as in
(b) I am going to work in the garden.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Data
3. Results
3.1 General remarks on the data
3.2 The age of acquisition of the future tense
3.3 The development of the use of the future tense
3.4 Constructions
3.5 Subjects
3.6 Verbs
3.7 Errors in the use of the future tense
4. Conclusion
5. References
6. Appendix
6.1 Input of Adam’s mother
6.2 Input of Sarah’s mother
6.3 Adam’s data
6.4 Sarah’s data
Research Objectives and Topics
This paper examines the acquisition of the future tense in children's speech, specifically focusing on the development and usage patterns of "will" and "gonna" by two children, Adam and Sarah, between the ages of 2 and 5. The primary research goal is to determine when children first utilize these future expressions and how their frequency and complexity evolve over time, while identifying common errors in their speech patterns.
- Acquisition timeline of the "gonna-future" and "will-future"
- Syntactic analysis of future tense constructions (simple sentences, questions, tags)
- Frequency and usage of subjects and verbs in future-tense utterances
- Influence of maternal input on children's language production
- Identification of error types, such as omission and overgeneralization
Excerpt from the Book
3.7 Errors in the use of the future tense
I will end my study with an analysis of the errors which occurred when Sarah and Adam were expressing future tense.
Following Ingram (1996), there are two forms of errors: errors of omission and errors of commission or overgeneralization. Both possibilities are found in the data to certain extents. Whereas errors among will-future occur very rarely, correct and incorrect forms of gonna-future exist next to each other.
The analysis of the data revealed that will-future seems to be the easier form concerning the frequency of errors. Sarah does not produce any at all, and also in Adam’s data almost all forms are correct. However, Adam seems to have difficulties when using the pronoun it as subject. He adds the contracted form of is to the subject, as can be seen in the examples:
(a) Mommy it's will be cooked in de minute. [Adam 3;3]
(b) it's will be Hercules high in the sky. [Adam 3;7]
(c) it's will knock Paul? [Adam 3;7]
Summary of Chapters
1. Introduction: Outlines the goal of studying future tense acquisition in children and defines the scope, focusing on "will" and "gonna" as the primary forms used by children.
2. Data: Describes the CHILDES database and the longitudinal data of Adam and Sarah as the basis for the empirical analysis.
3. Results: Details the findings regarding acquisition timing, syntactic constructions, frequency of subjects and verbs, and provides an analysis of linguistic errors.
4. Conclusion: Summarizes the key insights, noting the individual nature of future tense acquisition and the difference in error frequency between "gonna" and "will" forms.
5. References: Lists the academic literature and linguistic studies cited throughout the paper.
6. Appendix: Provides raw data excerpts including parental input and specific utterances of Adam and Sarah.
Keywords
Language acquisition, future tense, Child language, gonna-future, will-future, CHILDES database, syntactic development, parental input, child speech, error analysis, omission errors, overgeneralization, longitudinal study, English grammar, morpheme development.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the core subject of this research paper?
The paper explores the acquisition and development of the future tense in English-speaking children, specifically comparing the usage of "gonna" and "will" structures.
Which specific linguistic forms are analyzed?
The study focuses on the "will-future" and the colloquial "gonna-future," while intentionally excluding complex forms like the present progressive or simple present tense used to denote future time.
What is the primary objective of this study?
The main goal is to identify the developmental timeline of future tense expressions in children's speech and to understand the environmental and syntactic factors influencing these productions.
What research methodology was employed?
The author performed a quantitative and qualitative analysis of data from the CHILDES database, specifically looking at transcriptions of Adam and Sarah recorded by Roger Brown between 1962 and 1966.
What does the main body of the paper cover?
The main body examines the age of acquisition, the development of usage frequency, the types of constructions (such as wh-questions and tag questions), common subjects and verbs, and error patterns in the children's speech.
What are the primary keywords characterizing this work?
Key terms include language acquisition, future tense, child speech, longitudinal data analysis, and syntactic construction types.
Why are "gonna" and "will" treated differently regarding errors?
The analysis indicates that children produce errors of omission much more frequently with "gonna," whereas the "will-future" appears to be more stable, with Adam showing only specific overgeneralization errors linked to the pronoun "it."
How does maternal input correlate with child production?
The study finds a potential correlation between input and quality of output, though it notes instances where children use "gonna" constructs before their mothers, suggesting an independent learning process.
- Arbeit zitieren
- M.A. Sandra Dorschner (Autor:in), 2006, The acquisition of the future tense, München, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/115383
