Children's Acquisition of Assamese Split Ergativity

The aim of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive study of the Assamese case alignment system and its acquisition by L1 child speakers. It comprises of three interrelated papers that collectively make the following contributions: Paper 1 addresses the ongoing debate between nominative and ergative alignments in the existing Assamese literature. Its objective is to establish a definitive account of the Assamese case alignment system, thereby laying the foundation for subsequent research on the acquisition of the split ergative system by children. Paper 2 examines the acquisition of ergative splits by forty 2 to 6 year old children, based on two datasets obtained from an experiment and a semi-structured language game. The results demonstrate that children begin to use ergative morphology in adult-like structures as early as 2;6 years old, and their proficiency in this aspect increases with age. Additionally, our data indicates that children tend to grasp the Differential Object Marking (DOM) split in Assamese with relative ease, typically achieving competence by the age of 3. Paper 3 further explores the case alignment in Assamese, examining it from both synchronic and diachronic perspectives. It endeavors to trace the historical development of the ergative marker, shedding light on its origins and evolution. Additionally, this paper offers a unique comparison of adult and child language data, revealing an ongoing shift in the language’s alignment system. As a whole, this thesis contributes to our deeper understanding of the Assamese split ergative system, unravels the intricate procedure through which children effortlessly acquire this complex system at a young age, and sheds light on the historical evolution of the ergative case marker within the language while focusing on an ongoing change in the split ergative alignment.