Language acquisition from the perspective of multi-representational models

This paper presents the results of three researches focusing on the acquisition of structured variation of phonological and morphological patterns by children in the speech community of Rio de Janeiro taking the theoretical assumptions of the Usage-based Models. In this approach, sociolinguistic variation is assumed to be representational, not a process or a rule as stated in the main tradition of sociolinguistic studies, and it is also part of the speaker's knowledge, which must be acquired. Frequency distributions of variants observed in children production across age levels can be seen as reflexes of the way the variants are being stored and acquired. Gradualness and effects of frequency encompass acquisition process.