How difficult are complex verbs? Evidence from German, Dutch and English

Most research on the acquisition of verbs has focused on acquiring the synt actic category "verb" and on the verb's argument structure. It is assumed t hat due to their specific syntactic nature verbs are acquired in a differen t fashion than nouns, and that due to their specific semantic nature verbs do not simply denote activities or situations, but rather package meaning c omponents in a (language-) specific way. This paper refines the problem of acquiring verbs by paying attention to differences in the internal constitu ency of the verb lexicon in three closely related West Germanic languages - German, Dutch, and English. It is argued that the verb lexicon is not a un iform class but consists of various semantically or morphologically defined subsets, most notably simplex verbs like cover and complex verbs like unco ver or cover up. It is shown that while complex verbs do not form an acquis ition problem per se, not all (groups of) verbs are acquired in the same fa shion and with the same ease. In particular, differences in the acquisition of particle and prefix verbs are discussed as well as differences in the l exical diversity of the verbal subsets in the three languages under investi gation.