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The acquisition of some Dutch morphological rules*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Catherine E. Snow ,
Norval S. H. Smith  and
Marian Hoefnagel-Höhle
Catherine E. Snow
Affiliation:
Institute for General Linguistics, University of Amsterdam
Norval S. H. Smith
Affiliation:
Institute for General Linguistics, University of Amsterdam
Marian Hoefnagel-Höhle
Affiliation:
Institute for General Linguistics, University of Amsterdam
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Abstract

The acquisition of the morphological rules for plural, agentive, and diminutive suffixes in Dutch was studied. Subjects included 7- and 12-year-old native speakers, and second-language learners in three age groups (5–10 years, 12–18 years, and adult). The first- and second-language learners showed very similar orders of acquisition for the rule systems governing plural and diminutive, but the second-language learners showed a subtle form of interference from their first language in acquiring the agentive. The findings suggest that morphological acquisition proceeds piecemeal, with the learning of specific word ending + allomorph sequences, and that generalizations at the level of morphological rules may not be made even after several years of correct performance with the allomorph in question.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , October 1980 , pp. 539 - 553
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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