Latha Maganti, M. 1 , Maouene, J. 2 , Witherspoon, T. 2 , Collinge, A. 2 , Notter, R. 2 & Nesheim, M. 2
1 University of Hyderabad
2 Grand Valley State University
Many theorists of grammar and verb learning, studying English, have insisted that the abstract and relational nature of verbs and syntax is too hard for children to acquire using observational cues, and that children thus learn the grammar of verbs from the number of arguments it occurs with and/or the probability of their appearance in a particular frame. However, theorists studying other languages, notably languages with massive argument ellipses, have understandably had issues with this perspective (Rispoli, 1995[Japanese]; Narashiman, Budwig, and Murty, 2005 [Hindi]). Recently, growing evidence suggests a strong link between verbs and the neural processes that underlie body movement and perception in adults and children. These findings link bodily effectors to verbs via a concrete core meaning (e.g., jumping is about LEG). Here we build upon these relationships and show connections between body regions, verb meanings, and syntax by using new evidence from a corpus study of infant and maternal speech in Telugu, a Dravidian language from the South of India, which is known for dropping arguments. We ask whether the verbs used in nine common syntactic frames are specifically linked to one of three main regions of the body: HEAD, ARM, LEG. The speech of 18 to 36-month-olds (n=18, 2 groups of 9 children) and their mothers (n=18) as well as other member of the household (n=18) was examined for the use of 78 early-learned verbs. In total, 6907 utterances were hand-coded for their associations with the HAND, ARM, and LEG regions. The associations were provided by 45 4.5 to 5.5 year-old native Telugu speakers. Significant non-random relations were found both overall and for each age group using correspondence analyses, Fisher?s exact tests, and multiple one-sample chi-square tests. The results are discussed in terms of their relevance for both argument structure development and embodied cognition.