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Chapter 2. Differential Object Marking in the speech of children learning Basque and Spanish

  • Jennifer R. Austin
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The Acquisition of Differential Object Marking
This chapter is in the book The Acquisition of Differential Object Marking

Abstract

Basque speakers use dative case and agreement with animate, specific direct objects, a pattern that has been argued to be an instance of contact-induced Differential Object Marking (DOM) stemming from contact with the leísta dialect of Spanish spoken in the Basque Autonomous Community. This study compares the oral production of DOM in Basque and in Spanish by bilingual and monolingual children and by adults. While the bilingual children produced few tokens of DOM in Spanish, both bilingual and monolingual children used DOM in Basque more frequently than adults. In addition, bilingual children produced DOM at the same age in both Basque and Spanish, but at an earlier age in Basque than monolingual children do, suggesting that bilingualism in Spanish may accelerate the use of DOM in Basque. The implications of these findings for grammatical innovations driven by language contact are discussed.

Abstract

Basque speakers use dative case and agreement with animate, specific direct objects, a pattern that has been argued to be an instance of contact-induced Differential Object Marking (DOM) stemming from contact with the leísta dialect of Spanish spoken in the Basque Autonomous Community. This study compares the oral production of DOM in Basque and in Spanish by bilingual and monolingual children and by adults. While the bilingual children produced few tokens of DOM in Spanish, both bilingual and monolingual children used DOM in Basque more frequently than adults. In addition, bilingual children produced DOM at the same age in both Basque and Spanish, but at an earlier age in Basque than monolingual children do, suggesting that bilingualism in Spanish may accelerate the use of DOM in Basque. The implications of these findings for grammatical innovations driven by language contact are discussed.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Chapter 1. Acquisition of symmetrical and asymmetrical Differential Object Marking in Estonian 21
  5. Chapter 2. Differential Object Marking in the speech of children learning Basque and Spanish 51
  6. Chapter 3. Differential Object Marking in simultaneous Hungarian-Romanian bilinguals 77
  7. Chapter 4. The acquisition of Differential Object Marking in Basque as a sociolinguistic variable 105
  8. Chapter 5. The distribution of Differential Object Marking in L1 and L2 River Plate Spanish 133
  9. Chapter 6. On the acceptability of the Spanish DOM among Romanian-Spanish bilinguals 161
  10. Chapter 7. Animacy hierarchy effects on L2 processing of Differential Object Marking 183
  11. Chapter 8. Verbal lexical frequency and DOM in heritage speakers of Spanish 207
  12. Chapter 9. The processing of Differential Object Marking by heritage speakers of Spanish 237
  13. Chapter 10. Comprehension of Differential Object Marking by Hindi heritage speakers 261
  14. Chapter 11. Differential Object Marking in Romanian as a heritage language 283
  15. Chapter 12. Over-sensitivity to the animacy constraint on DOM in low proficient Turkish heritage speakers 313
  16. Chapter 13. Acquisition of Differential Object Marking in Korean 343
  17. Index 367
https://doi.org/10.1075/tilar.26.02aus

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Introduction 1
  4. Chapter 1. Acquisition of symmetrical and asymmetrical Differential Object Marking in Estonian 21
  5. Chapter 2. Differential Object Marking in the speech of children learning Basque and Spanish 51
  6. Chapter 3. Differential Object Marking in simultaneous Hungarian-Romanian bilinguals 77
  7. Chapter 4. The acquisition of Differential Object Marking in Basque as a sociolinguistic variable 105
  8. Chapter 5. The distribution of Differential Object Marking in L1 and L2 River Plate Spanish 133
  9. Chapter 6. On the acceptability of the Spanish DOM among Romanian-Spanish bilinguals 161
  10. Chapter 7. Animacy hierarchy effects on L2 processing of Differential Object Marking 183
  11. Chapter 8. Verbal lexical frequency and DOM in heritage speakers of Spanish 207
  12. Chapter 9. The processing of Differential Object Marking by heritage speakers of Spanish 237
  13. Chapter 10. Comprehension of Differential Object Marking by Hindi heritage speakers 261
  14. Chapter 11. Differential Object Marking in Romanian as a heritage language 283
  15. Chapter 12. Over-sensitivity to the animacy constraint on DOM in low proficient Turkish heritage speakers 313
  16. Chapter 13. Acquisition of Differential Object Marking in Korean 343
  17. Index 367
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