Interfaces in the acquisition of language: semantics and fonetic information on acquisition of grammatical number system in Brazilian Portuguese

Abstract

This study investigates the acquisition of the system of grammatical number of Brazilian Portuguese (BP), and focuses on how the child identifies information on the number at the interfaces phonics and language semantics. Through an experimental test, we sought to determine whether children are sensitive to the presence of number morphology in sentences that they hear, but also sought to clarify the requirements required in the semantic recognition of grammatical number. The results suggest that children are sensitive to number agreement, not differentiating the plural manifestations of standard and nonstandard. It was pointed out also for the fact that children can rely exclusively on morphological information on the number present in the sentence.