Development of Modality in First Language Acquisition

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This book deals with the development of deontic and epistemic modality from a cross-linguistic perspective and is closely related to two earlier volumes on the development of verb and nominal inflection in first language acquisition (SOLA 21 and 30) both methodologically and theoretically. Each of the seventeen contributions studies the early development of the form and function of expressions of deontic or epistemic modality in one of sixteen languages belonging to different morphological types and language families (eight IE, eight non-IE). The analyses are mainly based on longitudinal observations of children in their 2nd and 3rd years of life. Main issues addressed are the development of requests and evidential modality in conversational interaction with the children's caregivers, also taking into account children's developing social-pragmatic and cognitive skills. Directive speech acts are the earliest modal utterances, while epistemic expressions of certainty follow later. One of the main results is that the onset of epistemic modality is influenced by the typological characteristics of the language acquired. The findings are interpreted within non-nativist theoretical frameworks (Natural Morphology, Usage-based theories).