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Chapter 6. Grammatical gender and article use in beginning learners of German

  • Peter Ecke
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The Acquisition of Gender
Ein Kapitel aus dem Buch The Acquisition of Gender

Abstract

Acquiring nouns’ grammatical gender, corresponding articles, and their morphological variants is one of the biggest challenges for adult learners of German. In this study, we analyze determiner noun phrases (NPs) produced orally by Spanish L1/English L2 beginning learners of German L3. We explore the extent to which L3 learners correctly produce determiner NPs including the appropriately marked grammatical gender, the extent to which they have become sensitive to nouns’ formal gender cues, and the factors that help them cope with the complexity of the German article and gender systems. We pay special attention to the possibility of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in L3 learners’ article/gender choices according to predictions made by the Parasitic Model of vocabulary acquisition. The results suggest that learners reduce the complexity of the article/gender selection task by resorting to CLI, the adoption of gender from assumed lexical equivalents, and by over-using the most frequent forms (ein-masc/neu and die-fem) which also are the phonologically least complex and most similar forms to equivalents in the L1 and/or L2. Formal gender cues only have a limited effect on article choice for the learners at this early stage of acquisition. Sensitivity to gender cues emerges only for the most frequent cue types and in association with definite (not indefinite) article use.

Abstract

Acquiring nouns’ grammatical gender, corresponding articles, and their morphological variants is one of the biggest challenges for adult learners of German. In this study, we analyze determiner noun phrases (NPs) produced orally by Spanish L1/English L2 beginning learners of German L3. We explore the extent to which L3 learners correctly produce determiner NPs including the appropriately marked grammatical gender, the extent to which they have become sensitive to nouns’ formal gender cues, and the factors that help them cope with the complexity of the German article and gender systems. We pay special attention to the possibility of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in L3 learners’ article/gender choices according to predictions made by the Parasitic Model of vocabulary acquisition. The results suggest that learners reduce the complexity of the article/gender selection task by resorting to CLI, the adoption of gender from assumed lexical equivalents, and by over-using the most frequent forms (ein-masc/neu and die-fem) which also are the phonologically least complex and most similar forms to equivalents in the L1 and/or L2. Formal gender cues only have a limited effect on article choice for the learners at this early stage of acquisition. Sensitivity to gender cues emerges only for the most frequent cue types and in association with definite (not indefinite) article use.

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. About the contributors vii
  4. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Review chapters
  6. Chapter 2. Gender assignment in mixed noun phrases 13
  7. Chapter 3. Empirical evidence for subtle gender biases in language 49
  8. Chapter 4. The acquisition of grammatical gender in child and adult heritage speakers of Spanish 71
  9. Part II. Child, adult and heritage speakers
  10. Chapter 5. The second language acquisition of grammatical gender and number in Italian 97
  11. Chapter 6. Grammatical gender and article use in beginning learners of German 127
  12. Chapter 7. The non-default gender category in additional-language French 157
  13. Chapter 8. Investigating grammatical gender agreement in Spanish 183
  14. Chapter 9. Cross-linguistic influence in bilingual grammars 209
  15. Chapter 10. Prediction on the basis of gender and number in Mandarin-Italian bilingual children 243
  16. Language index 273
  17. Name index 275
  18. Subject index 281
https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.63.06eck

Kapitel in diesem Buch

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. About the contributors vii
  4. Chapter 1. Introduction 1
  5. Part I. Review chapters
  6. Chapter 2. Gender assignment in mixed noun phrases 13
  7. Chapter 3. Empirical evidence for subtle gender biases in language 49
  8. Chapter 4. The acquisition of grammatical gender in child and adult heritage speakers of Spanish 71
  9. Part II. Child, adult and heritage speakers
  10. Chapter 5. The second language acquisition of grammatical gender and number in Italian 97
  11. Chapter 6. Grammatical gender and article use in beginning learners of German 127
  12. Chapter 7. The non-default gender category in additional-language French 157
  13. Chapter 8. Investigating grammatical gender agreement in Spanish 183
  14. Chapter 9. Cross-linguistic influence in bilingual grammars 209
  15. Chapter 10. Prediction on the basis of gender and number in Mandarin-Italian bilingual children 243
  16. Language index 273
  17. Name index 275
  18. Subject index 281
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