| This is an experimental study that tested children's (age range 3;0--6;0) comprehension of indefinite objects in Turkish with a particular focus on the effect of the accusative case marker on the scope assignment to objects with respect to negation and adverbs. The results show that, although the accusative case is one of the earliest acquisitions, emerging before 2;0, its adult-like comprehension is not achieved until a much later age. The results are attributed to children's late mastery of discourse pragmatics and information structure of the language.; Presuppositional objects obligatorily (overtly or covertly) scramble in Turkish, while non-presuppositional ones occur adjacent to verbs, either immediately above VP, or inside VP. When objects remain adjacent to the verb, their case can be deleted. Scrambled objects cannot undergo case deletion. In this sense, accusative case signals a scrambled position, thus a presuppositional reading, and wide scope with respect to negation and adverbs, although the case marker itself does not play a role in scope assignment.; In a series of experiments case-marked indefinite objects were tested at various word orders (preverbal adjacent to verb, preverbal preceding the subject and postverbal) and their interpretation was compared to the interpretation of non case marked objects. The children at the youngest age group did not have access to the wide scope in any of the object types regardless of case morphology or word order. This reading is observed in about 95% of the cases in adults when the objects are case-marked. An improvement is observed by age, but even at the age of 6;0, children cannot reach an adult-like level in their scope assignments.; I propose that that children's grammar has case assignment and scrambling as formal operations but children do not know the complex relationship between case morphology, scrambling, presuppositionality, defocalization of constituents and scope assignment. These findings are compatible with a grammar that separates the formal and interpretational properties of morphemes and allows their emergence at their own pace. |
