Page 34 - Developmental Norms

P. 34

Contrastive Analysis for Language: Morphosyntax

Feature Spanish English Examples of Errors
Word order Flexible Strict Subject‐Verb‐ The ball he threw.*/ He threw the ball.
Object order
Possessives noun+of+person ’s The car of my mom is blue*/ My mom’s car is
blue.
Adjec ves Adjec ve follows noun Adjec ve precedes The ball big bounced.*/ The big ball bounced.
noun
Present tense 5‐6 forms, determined 2 forms: She talk to me.* / She talks to me.
verb inﬂec on by subject: I eat
Yo como You eat
Tú comes He eats
Él/Ella/Ud. come We eat
Nosotros comemos You all eat
Vosotros coméis They eat
Ellos comen
Use of subject Pro‐drop Pronoun is always Looks for the frog* / He looks for the frog.
pronouns required
Regular past 5‐6 forms, determined One form (‐ed) She walk to the store* / She walked to the store.
tense by subject
Double object Can be used Cannot be used I saw him the man*/ I saw the man
pronoun
Double nega ve Can be used Cannot be used I don’t want to do nothing*/ I don’t want to do
anything.
Ques on Ques ons marked by Ques ons marked You give me a s cker?*/ Will you give me a
forma on inﬂec on or ques on by word order s cker?
words inversion, ques on
words, or addi on What you think?*/ What do you think?
of do
We can go?* / Can we go?
Mul ‐purpose Verbs with mul ple Verbs with mul ple I have 4 years*/ I am four years old.
verbs meanings that do not meanings that do
always correspond to not always Do you have hunger?*/ Are you hungry?
English correspond to
Spanish

(Bedore, Peña, & Kester, 2007; Goldstein & Iglesias, 2006; Kester & Gorman, 2004; MacWhinney & Bates, 1989)

Some Common Prepositions Errors

Possible misuses of prepositions
Spanish English in English
En (in/on) In/on Put the food in the plate.*
Put the food on the bowl.*
Pensar en/pensar de (think in/think To think about or think of I think on him everyday.*
of)
You can do it if you think of it.*
Enojarse con (to get mad with) To get mad at She get mad with me.*
Soñar con (to dream with) To dream of I dreamt with you last night*
Decidir de (to decide of) To decide on Have you decided of what you want?*

Casarse con (to marry with) To marry or be married to Is he married with her?*
Estar enamorado de (to be in love of) To be in love with Is he in love of her?*

Note: Sentences marked with an asterisk (*) are awkward or not gramma cal. (Kester & Gorman, 2004)

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