Cover -- Half-title -- Series-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Figures -- Tables -- Preface -- Abbreviations and conventions -- 1 Introduction -- 1.1 Acquiring language -- 1.1.1 Acquiring the forms and functions of language -- 1.1.1.1 Forms vs. functions -- 1.1.1.2 Sentences vs. discourse -- 1.1.2 Acquiring a particular language -- 1.1.2.1 Universals -- 1.1.2.2 Particulars -- 1.2 Domains of child language -- 1.2.1 Denoting entities -- 1.2.1.1 Universals -- 1.2.1.2 Variability -- 1.2.1.3 Developmental perspective -- 1.2.2 Space in languag -- 1.2.2.1 Universals -- 1.2.2.2 Variability -- 1.2.2.3 Developmental perspective -- 1.2.3 Time in language -- 1.2.3.1 Universals -- 1.2.3.2 Variability -- 1.2.3.3 Developmental perspective -- 1.3 Overview of contents in subsequent chapters -- I Available theories and data -- 2 Theoretical issues -- 2.1 Some main theoretical issues in theories of language acquisition -- 2.1.1 Nativistic and constructivistic approaches -- 2.1.1.1 Timing -- 2.1.1.2 Biological endowment in ontogenesis -- 2.1.1.3 Mechanisms -- 2.1.2 Criterial properties of language -- 2.1.2.1 Structural approaches -- 2.1.2.2 Functional approaches -- 2.1.3 Structur vs. process, competence vs. performance -- 2.1.3.1 Structure and process -- 2.1.3.2 Competence and performance -- 2.1.4 Continuity and discontinuity -- 2.1.5 Language and cognition -- 2.1.5.1 Domain-specificity -- 2.1.5.2 Cognitive prerequisites and determinants -- 2.1.5.3 Semiotic mediation -- 2.1.5.4 Cross-linguistic variability -- 2.2 Functional approaches to language -- 2.2.1 Multifunctionality -- 2.2.2 Context-dependence -- 2.2.3 Sentences and discourse -- 2.3 Functional aspects ofreference in cohesive discourse -- 2.3.1 Discourse cohesion -- 2.3.2 Information status in discourse -- 2.3.3 Information grounding in discourse -- 2.3.4 Developmental implications.

3 Cross-linguistic invariants and variations -- 3.1 Some general typological dimensions -- 3.1.1 Morphological systems -- 3.1.1.1 Morphological richness -- 3.1.1.2 Morphological transparency -- 3.1.1.3 Morphological uniformity -- 3.1.1.4 Other formal properties of morphological markings -- 3.1.2 Orientation to subjects or topics -- 3.1.3 Lexicalisation and grammaticalisation -- 3.2 Denoting entities -- 3.2.1 Grammatical principles -- 3.2.2 Functional pragmatic principles -- 3.2.2.1 Local markings of discourse status -- 3.2.2.2 Global markings of discourse status -- 3.2.3 Multifunctionality -- 3.2.3.1 Other functions and properties of local markings -- 3.2.3.2 Other functions and properties of global markings -- 3.3 Space -- 3.3.1 Figures, grounds, and situations -- 3.3.2 Packaging motion -- 3.3.3 Organising the universe of spatial relations -- 3.3.4 Spatial anchoring -- 3.4 Time -- 3.4.1 Tense and aspect -- 3.4.2 Predicates and situation types -- 3.4.3 Temporal anchoring and grounding in discourse -- 3.5 Summary -- 4 Coherence and cohesion in discourse development -- 4.1 Macrostructures -- 4.1.1 Scripts -- 4.1.2 Story structure -- 4.1.3 Developmental evidence for internal macrostructures -- 4.1.4 Relating coherence and cohesion -- 4.2 Emergence of the textual function -- 4.2.1 Early conversational skills -- 4.2.2 Displaced reference -- 4.3 Summary -- 5 Children's marking of information status: referring expressions and clause structure -- 5.1 Referring expressions -- 5.1.1 Syntactic aspects: formal accounts -- 5.1.1.1 Reflexives -- 5.1.1.2 Parameters -- 5.1.1.3 Some problems -- 5.1.2 Semantic and functional pragmatic aspects -- 5.1.2.1 Specific and non-specific reference, given and new information, deixis and anaphora -- 5.1.2.2 Text processing and levels of control -- 5.1.2.3 Some problems -- 5.2 Clause structure in discourse -- 5.3 Summary.

6 The acquisition of spatial and temporal-aspectual devices -- 6.1 Motion and location -- 6.1.1 Universal determinants of spatial semantics -- 6.1.1.1 Regularities in children's production and comprehension of spatial devices -- 6.1.1.2 Spatial reference in discourse -- 6.1.2 Language-specific factors -- 6.1.2.1 The expression of static location -- 6.1.2.2 The expression of motion -- 6.2 Temporal-aspectual markings -- 6.2.1 Cognitiv determinants of tense-aspect morphology -- 6.2.2 Discourse determinants of tense-aspect morphology -- 6.2.2.1 Interpersonal interaction -- 6.2.2.2 Grounding information in cohesive discourse -- 6.2.3 Language-specific factors in the acquisition of tense-aspect morphology -- 6.2.3.1 Situation or predicate types -- 6.2.3.2 Discourse organisation -- 6.2.4 Connectivity -- 6.3 Summary -- II A cross-linguistic study of children's narratives -- 7 Methodological issues -- 7.1 Control of relevant variables -- 7.1.1 Longitudinal and cross-sectional methods of data collection -- 7.1.2 Discourse type -- 7.1.3 Task and adult intervention -- 7.1.4 Narrativ stimuli and mode of presentation -- 7.1.5 Background knowledge conditions -- 7.2 Design of the present study -- 7.2.1 General design and rationale -- 7.2.2 Database -- 7.2.2.1 Materials -- 7.2.2.2 Procedure -- 7.2.2.3 Subjects -- 7.2.3 Languages compared: summary of properties -- 7.2.4 Preparation of the database -- 7.2.4.1 Referring expressions -- 7.2.4.2 Clause structure -- 7.2.4.3 Spatial devices -- 7.2.4.4 Temporal-aspectual markings -- 7.2.4.5 Additional information -- 7.2.5 Analyses -- 8 Animate entities -- 8.1 Referent introductions -- 8.1.1 Local markings of newness -- 8.1.1.1 All NP types -- 8.1.1.2 Locally marked vs. unmarked first mentions -- 8.1.2 Position and clause structure -- 8.1.2.1 Position in relation to the verb -- 8.1.2.2 Clause structure -- 8.1.2.3 Deictic uses.

8.1.3 Relation between local and global markings -- 8.2 Reference maintenance -- 8.2.1 Forms of referring expressions -- 8.2.2 Position of noun phrases -- 8.2.3 Role within the clause -- 8.2.3.1 Semantic roles -- 8.2.3.2 Grammatical roles -- 8.2.4 Coreference across clauses -- 8.2.4.1 Coreferential and non-coreferential contexts -- 8.2.4.2 Types of coreferential relations -- 8.2.5 Variations within form types -- 8.3 Summary and discussion -- 8.3.1 First mentions -- 8.3.2 Subsequent mentions -- 9 Space -- 9.1 Situation types -- 9.1.1 Static vs. dynamic predicates -- 9.1.2 Manner, direction, deixis, cause -- 9.2 Explicitness of spatial grounds -- 9.2.1 Overall explicitness of grounds -- 9.2.2 Ground explicitness, predicates, and presentative constructions -- 9.3 Spatial anchoring -- 9.3.1 Forms and positions of ground introductions within their unit -- 9.3.2 Predicate types and semantic roles in ground introductions -- 9.3.3 Position of ground introductions in the narratives -- 9.4 Maintaining reference to spatial grounds -- 9.4.1 Forms and roles of subsequent ground mentions -- 9.4.2 Coreference among ground mentions -- 9.5 Summary and discussion -- 10 Time -- 10.1 Distribution ofall temporal-aspectual devices -- 10.1.1 Verbal devices -- 10.1.1.1 Verbal morphology in the Indo-European languages -- 10.1.1.2 Aspectual markers in Chinese -- 10.1.2 Connectives -- 10.1.3 Relation between verbal and other devices -- 10.2 Impact ofpredicate types on verbal devices -- 10.3 Discourse determinants of temporal-aspectual devices -- 10.3.1 Temporal anchoring in the Indo-European languages -- 10.3.2 Temporal-aspectual shifts -- 10.3.2.1 Indo-European languages: the use of the past in mixed non-past-based narratives -- 10.3.2.2 Indo-European languages: the use of the non-past in past-based mixed narratives.

10.3.2.3 Chinese: shifts in the uses and non-uses of aspectual markers -- 10.3.3 A closer look at the marking of overlaps -- 10.4 Summary and discussion -- 11 Conclusions -- 11.1 Summary of findings in each domain -- 11.1.1 Animate entities -- 11.1.1.1 Referent introductions -- 11.1.1.2 Reference maintenance -- 11.1.2 Space -- 11.1.2.1 Predicate types -- 11.1.2.2 Spatial anchoring in discourse -- 11.1.3 Time -- 11.1.3.1 Temporal anchoring and predicate types -- 11.1.3.2 Temporal-aspectual shifts in discourse -- 11.2 General conclusions across domains -- 11.2.1 The timing and rhythm of acquisition -- 11.2.1.1 Animate entities -- 11.2.1.2 Space -- 11.2.1.3 Time -- 11.2.2 Determinants in language acquisition: sentence vs. discourse factors -- 11.2.2.1 Animate entities -- 11.2.2.2 Space -- 11.2.2.3 Time -- 11.2.3 Universal vs. language-specific aspects of acquisition -- 11.2.3.1 Animate entities -- 11.2.3.2 Space -- 11.2.3.3 Time -- 11.2.4 Differences and interrelations among domains -- 11.2.4.1 Story haracters and spatial anchors -- 11.2.4.2 Information status and information grounding -- 11.2.4.3 Space and time -- 11.3 Implications and concluding remarks -- 11.3.1 Relevance for available models of language acquisition -- 11.3.2 Open questions and future research -- Appendix -- Notes -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Theoretical issues -- 3 Cross-linguistic invariants and variations -- 4 Coherence and cohesion in discourse development -- 5 Children's marking of information status: referring expressions and clause structure -- 6 The acquisition of spatial and temporal-aspectual devices -- 7 Methodological issues -- 8 Animate entities -- 9 Space -- 10 Time -- References -- Indexes -- Author index -- Subject index.