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Grammatical Gender in Norwegian: Language Acquisition and Language Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2015

Yulia Rodina  and
Marit Westergaard
Yulia Rodina*
Affiliation:
University of Oslo
Marit Westergaard*
Affiliation:
UiT–The Arctic University of Norway
*
University of Oslo, Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies / MultiLing, Postbox 1102 Blindern, 0315 Oslo, Norway, [[email protected]]
UiT–The Arctic University of Norway, Department of Language and Linguistics/CASTL, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway, [[email protected]]
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Abstract

Based on data from two experimental studies, this paper investigates the production of gender in a Norwegian dialect (Tromsø) by several groups of child and adult speakers. The findings show that gender is late acquired (around age 7) and, furthermore, that there are considerable differences between the groups, indicating an ongoing historical change that involves the loss of feminine gender agreement. However, the feminine declensional endings, such as the suffixal definite article, are retained. While there are sociolinguistic factors causing this change, we argue that the nature of the change can be explained by the process of language acquisition.*

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Germanic Linguistics , Volume 27 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 145 - 187
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Germanic Linguistics 2015 

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