Acquiring Relational Verb Inflection in Northern East Cree: Frequency, Complexity, and Overgeneralizations

This study focuses on the acquisition of typologically distinct inflection in the polysynthetic language Northern East Cree: ‘relational’morphology, which adds a third-person participant to the verb and increases semantic but not syntactic valence. Two studies examine naturalistic video recordings involving one adult and one child (age 3;08–5;11), evaluating predictions for the acquisition of relational inflection based on considerations of frequency and complexity. Study 1 traces the distributional characteristics of two major inflectional patterns within child-directed speech, and Study 2 describes Daisy’s acquisition of both major inflectional patterns. Although important facets of Daisy’s productions can be predicted by looking toward either frequency or complexity, complexity more clearly predicts her persistent overgeneralizations. These findings have implications for the science of language acquisition, where languages such as Cree and unique patterns such as relational inflection are underrepresented, as well as communities working to promote and strengthen their language.