On the temporal contour of child language: a reply to Rispoli & Bloom

Discussed are some issues raised by M. Rispoli & L. Bloom (see LLBA 20/1, 8600146), including whether children's early temporal lang is systematic & productive; whether linguistic approaches to aspect are appropriate for child lang studies; how to interpret the interaction of viewpoint & situation aspect in Japanese; & the usefulness of categories derived by Rispoli & Bloom from their data. It is argued that a theory of aspect that integrates situation & viewpoint aspect is relevant to child lang, based on the findings of studies in langs, including Eng & Polish. It is argued that the categories proposed by Rispoli & Bloom have no significance beyond the specific data. 52 References. B. Annesser Murray