Exercise 1.

1
Below are examples of utterances produced by a girl called Lucy at age 24 months. Comment
on whether Lucy has correctly set the three parameters discussed in the text (the Head Position
Parameter, the Wh-Parameter, and the Null Subject Parameter). Solve them descriptively.

CHILD SENTENCE ADULT COUNTERPART

1. What doing? ‘What are you doing?’

2. Want bye-byes ‘I want to go to sleep’

3. Mummy go shops Mummy went to the shops’; this was in reply

to ‘Where did Mummy go?’
4. Me have yoghurt? ‘Can I have a yoghurt?’
5. Daddy doing? ‘What’s Daddy doing?’
6. Think Teddy sleeping ‘I think Teddy’s sleeping’; this was in reply to
‘What do you think Teddy's doing?’
7. What me having? What am I having?’; this followed her mother
saying ‘Mummy's having fish for dinner’
8. No me have fish. ‘I’m not going to have fish’
9. Where Daddy gone? ‘Where’s Daddy gone?’
10. Gone office ‘He’s gone to his office’

CHILD SENTENCE ADULT COUNTERPART

1. What doing? ‘What are you doing?’

In Generative Linguistics, principles and parameters is a framework in which syntax of a

particular natural language is described in terms of which general principles and certain
parameters are turned ‘on or off’ in that language.
In the above example, the two-and-three-word utterances produced by Lucy show that she has
successfully started the phase of grammatical development (using inflections) and has begun to
set the principles and parameters specific to English language.

 In utterance “what doing?”, ‘doing’ is a verb and ‘what’ is a complement. If ‘what’ is

assumed as the head of the phrase, then it can be considered as a ‘complementizer
phrase’, thus satisfying the Head Position Parameter as the head of a phrase (e.g. what)
always precedes the complement (e.g. doing) in English language (head-initial).
 This utterance is also satisfying the Wh- Parameter as questions containing a single
word beginning with ‘wh-’ is moved to the beginning of the sentence in English
language. This utterance is also a good example of positive evidence in language
acquisition process.
 Lastly, it is not satisfying the Null-Subject-Parameter as English language (non-null-
subject-language) doesn’t allow finite verbs (doing) to have null subjects.

CHILD SENTENCE ADULT COUNTERPART

2. Want bye-byes ‘I want to go to sleep’

 In utterance “want bye-byes”, ‘want’ is a verb and ‘bye-byes’ is a complement. Here,

‘want’ acts as the head of the phrase, therefore, it is considered as a ‘verb phrase’, thus
satisfying the Head Position Parameter as the head of a phrase (e.g. want) always
precedes the complement (e.g. bye-byes) in English language (head-initial).
 Since there is no word beginning with ‘wh-’ in the beginning of this utterance, therefore,
Wh- Parameter is not applicable here.
 This utterance is not satisfying the Null-Subject-Parameter as English language (non-
null-subject-language) doesn’t allow finite verbs (want) to have null subjects.

CHILD SENTENCE ADULT COUNTERPART

3. Mummy go shops Mummy went to the shops’; this was in reply

to ‘Where did Mummy go?’
  In utterance “mummy go shops”, ‘go’ is a verb which has the subject ‘mummy’ and the
complement ‘shops’. If the noun ‘mummy’ is considered as the head of the phrase,
then, it is a ‘noun phrase’, thus satisfying the Head Position Parameter as the head of a
phrase (e.g. mummy) always precedes the complement (e.g. go) in English language
(head-initial). If the verb ‘go’ is considered as the head of the phrase, then, it is a ‘verb
phrase’, thus satisfying the Head Position Parameter as the head of a phrase (e.g. go)
always precedes the complement (e.g. shops) in English language (head-initial).
 Since there is no word beginning with ‘wh-’ in the beginning of this utterance, therefore,
Wh- Parameter is not applicable here.
 This utterance is not satisfying the Null-Subject-Parameter as English language (non-
null-subject-language) doesn’t allow finite verbs (want) to have null subjects and here,
the finite verb ‘go’ has and explicit subject ‘mummy’, thus satisfying another possible
parameter setting Non-Null-Subject-Parameter.

CHILD SENTENCE ADULT COUNTERPART

4. Me have yoghurt? ‘Can I have a yoghurt?’

 In utterance “me have yoghurt?”, ‘have’ is a verb which has the subject ‘me’ and the
complement ‘yoghurt’. The verb ‘have’ acts as the head of the phrase, then, the phrase
‘me have yoghurt’ is considered as a ‘verb phrase’, thus satisfying the Head Position
Parameter as the head of a phrase (e.g. have) always precedes the complement (e.g.
yoghurt) in English language (head-initial).
 There is no word beginning with ‘wh-’ in the beginning of this utterance, however, adult
counterpart shows that this utterance is interrogative in nature. Since there is no ‘wh-’
word so Wh- Parameter is not applicable here.
 This utterance is not satisfying the Null-Subject-Parameter as English language (non-
null-subject-language) doesn’t allow finite verbs (have) to have null subjects and here,
the finite verb ‘have’ has and explicit subject ‘me’, thus satisfying another possible
parameter setting Non-Null-Subject-Parameter.

CHILD SENTENCE ADULT COUNTERPART

5. Daddy doing? ‘What’s Daddy doing?’

  In utterance “daddy doing?”, ‘doing’ is a verb which has the subject ‘daddy’. The noun
‘daddy’ acts as the head of the phrase, so, the phrase ‘daddy doing’ is considered as a
‘noun phrase’, thus satisfying the Head Position Parameter as the head of a phrase (e.g.
daddy) always precedes the complement (e.g. doing) in English language (head-initial).
 There is no word beginning with ‘wh-’ in the beginning of this utterance, however, adult
counterpart shows that this utterance has null counterpart of ‘what’. Since there is no
‘wh-’ word so Wh- Parameter is not applicable here.
 This utterance is not satisfying the Null-Subject-Parameter rather it is supporting Non-
Null-Subject-Parameter.

CHILD SENTENCE ADULT COUNTERPART

6. Think Teddy sleeping ‘I think Teddy’s sleeping’; this was in reply to

‘What do you think Teddy's doing?’

 In utterance “think teddy sleeping”, ‘think’ is a verb and its complement is ‘Teddy
sleeping’. The verb ‘think’ acts as the head of the phrase, so, the phrase ‘think’ is
considered as a ‘verb phrase’, thus satisfying the Head Position Parameter as the head
of a phrase (e.g. think) always precedes the complement (e.g. Teddy sleeping) in English
language (head-initial).
 Since there is no word beginning with ‘wh-’ in the beginning of this utterance, therefore,
Wh- Parameter is not applicable here.
 This utterance is not satisfying the Null-Subject-Parameter as English always require
explicit subject in order to make sense.

CHILD SENTENCE ADULT COUNTERPART

7. What me having? What am I having?’; this followed her mother

saying ‘Mummy's having fish for dinner’

 In utterance “what me having?”, ‘having’ is a verb which has the subject ‘me’ and
‘what’ as a complement. If ‘what’ is assumed as the head of the phrase, then it can be
considered as a ‘complementizer phrase’, thus satisfying the Head Position Parameter
as the head of a phrase (e.g. what) always precedes the complement (e.g. me having) in
English language (head-initial).
  This utterance is also satisfying the Wh- Parameter as questions containing a single
word beginning with ‘wh-’ is moved to the beginning of the sentence in English
language.
 Lastly, it is not satisfying the Null-Subject-Parameter as English language is a non-null-
subject-language (subject ‘me’).

CHILD SENTENCE ADULT COUNTERPART

8. No me have fish. ‘I’m not going to have fish’

 In utterance “no me have fish”, ‘no’ is a negative particle and ‘me have fish’ is a
complement. If ‘no’ acts as the head of the phrase, it is a ‘participial phrase’, thus
satisfying the Head Position Parameter.
 Since there is no word beginning with ‘wh-’ in the beginning of this utterance, therefore,
Wh- Parameter is not applicable here.
 Lastly, it is not satisfying the Null-Subject-Parameter as English language is a non-null-
subject-language (subject ‘me’).

CHILD SENTENCE ADULT COUNTERPART

9. Where Daddy gone? ‘Where’s Daddy gone?’

 In utterance “where daddy gone?”, ‘gone’ is a verb which has the subject ‘daddy’ and
‘where’ as a complement. If ‘where’ is assumed as the head of the phrase, then it can
be considered as a ‘complementizer phrase’, thus satisfying the Head Position
Parameter. If noun ‘daddy’ acts as a head then, the phrase ‘daddy gone’ is a noun
phrase with ‘gone’ acting as a complement, thus indicating that Lucy has correctly set
Head Position Parameter.
 This utterance is also satisfying the Wh- Parameter as questions containing a single
word beginning with ‘wh-’ is moved to the beginning of the sentence in English
language.
  Lastly, it is not satisfying the Null-Subject-Parameter as English language is a non-null-
subject-language (subject ‘daddy’) meaning that explicit/overt subject is present in this
utterance.

CHILD SENTENCE ADULT COUNTERPART

10. Gone office ‘He’s gone to his office’

 In utterance “gone office?”, ‘gone’ is a verb and ‘office’ is a complement. The verb
‘gone’ is the head of the phrase making this utterance a ‘verb phrase’, thus satisfying
the Head Position Parameter.
 Since there is no word beginning with ‘wh-’ in the beginning of this utterance, therefore,
Wh- Parameter is not applicable here.
 Lastly, it is not satisfying the Null-Subject-Parameter as English language is a non-null-
subject-language and always require explicit/overt subject in order to make sense.
 ASSIGNMENT-1

Submitted to: Dr. Urooj Alvi

Submitted by: Mahnoor Bano
Course: Advanced Syntax
M.Phil Applied Linguistics
Semester: 3

Kinnaird College for Women, Lahore