Was langsame Lerner uns zeigen können. Der Erwerb der Finitheit im Deutschen durch einsprachige Kinder mit einer spezifischen Sprachentwicklungsstörung und durch erwachsene Zweitsprachlerner

Current theoretical approaches to finiteness indicate that morpho-syntactic properties of verbs do not only serve to express semantic features like tense but also illocutionary force (or >assertion bites<: After a phase in which they use lexical precursors for the expression of semantic finiteness, learners heavily rely on finite light verbs and auxiliaries for that purpose. The advantage is a division of labour between the carrier of finiteness and the non-finite lexical verb as carrier of verb meaning. While unimpaired children pass through these phases fairly quickly, the process is much slower with untutored L2-learners and children with SLI. Intermediate steps on these learners' way to a targetlike command of finiteness can therefore be studied in more detail.