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'To be or not to be': formulaic and frame-based acquisition of the copula in Trinidad

University of the West Indies

This study examines the development of copula as main verb for three children exposed to Trinidad Creole (TC) and Standard English (SE) in differing proportions. There is conflict between the systems in contact in this area because, in the TC system, copula is realized as zero with adjectival and locative predicates. Hence children have to acquire a form which is, on occasion, not there. In these circumstances it was found that the children displayed a formulaic style of acquisition and relied heavily on frames derived from formulae as language 'anchors' in an unstable interaction area. For all three the frame-based strategy operated as a base for surface analysis of forms while they ironed out underlying conflicts in the language systems of their exposure.

First Language, Vol. 14, No. 42-43, 263-282 (1994)
DOI: 10.1177/014272379401404218


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