Cover not available
Part of
Teachability and Learnability across Languages
Edited by Ragnar Arntzen, Gisela Håkansson, Arnstein Hjelde and Jörg-U. Keßler
[Processability Approaches to Language Acquisition Research & Teaching 6] 2019
► pp. 163–181

Chapter 8
Acquisition of nominal morphology in Norwegian L2

Trends and tendencies

ORCID logo | Østfold University College
The main objective of this paper is to examine certain trends and tendencies in the acquisition of nominal morphology in the spontaneous speech of three L1 Kurdish-speaking children acquiring Norwegian as an L2. This paper reports on variations in the children’s use of articles and suffixes at three different points along their paths of acquisition, from approximately 2:7 (age:months) to 8:8 years after the age of onset of acquisition (AoOA). The findings suggest that constructions paralleling those of adult L1 speakers are the main pattern in L2 production of the children in the present study. In addition, article omission in modified noun phrases (NPs), gender-agreement discrepancy, omission of the definite suffix in simple nominal phrases and omission of the indefinite article are other tendencies.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1A note on terminology
    • 1.2Articles and suffixes in Norwegian nominal phrases
  • 2.Earlier research on articles and suffixes
  • 3.The present study
    • 3.1The speakers
    • 3.2The data material
    • 3.3Data analysis
  • 4.Findings
    • 4.1A closer look at the patterns displayed
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 6 June 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/palart.6.08emi
References (38)
References
Amaral, L. & Roeper, T. 2014. Multiple grammars and second language representation. Second Language Research 30(1): 3–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anderssen, M. 2007. The acquisition of compositional definiteness in Norwegian. Nordlys 34: 252–275.Google Scholar
2010. Tidlig tilegnelse av bestemt artikkel i norsk (Early acquisition of the definite article in Norwegian). Norsk Lingvistisk Tidsskrift 28: 153–172.Google Scholar
Anderssen, M., Bentzen, K. & Rodina, Y. 2012. Topicality and complexity in the acquisition of Norwegian object shift. Language Acquisition 19(1): 39–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anderssen, M., Bentzen, K. & Westergaard, M. 2011. The acquisition of (word order) variation. In Variation in the Input: Studies in the Acquisition of Word Order, M. Anderssen, K. Bentzen & M. Westergaard (eds), 1–15. Dordrecht: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anderssen, M. & Bentzen, K. 2013. Cross-linguistic influence outside the syntax-pragmatics interface: A case study of acquisition of definiteness. Studia Linguistica 67(1): 82–100. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Anderssen, M. & Westergaard, M. 2010. Frequency and economy in the acquisition of variable word order. Lingua 120: 2569–2588. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Arntzen, R. 2012. Tospråklige barn fra barnehage til skole. Et prosjekt i språkstimulering og språkkartlegging av andrespråket 2008–2011 (Bilingual children from kindergarten to school. A project on language stimulation and language testing of the second language 2008–2011). In Flerspråklig oppvekst i barnehage, førskole og skole. Artikler av lærere og forskere i det nordiske nettverket (Multilingual Fostering in Kindergarten, Preschool and School. Papers by Teachers and Researchers in the Nordic Network), R. Arntzen, S. Duek & A. Hjelde (eds), 27–74. Halden: Østfold University College.Google Scholar
Cook, V. & Newson, M. 2007. Chomsky’s Universal Grammar: An Introduction. Malden MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Corder, P. 1967. The significance of learner errors. International Review of Applied Linguistics 5: 161–170. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Faarlund, J. T., Lie, S. & Vannebo, K. I. 1997. Norsk referansegrammatikk (A Reference Grammar of Norwegian). Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.Google Scholar
Garcia Mayo, M. D. P. 2009. Article choice in L2 English by Spanish speakers: Evidence for full transfer. In Garcia Mayo & Hawkins (eds), 13–36.Google Scholar
Garcia Mayo, M. D. P. & Hawkins, R. (eds). 2009. Second Language Acquisition of Articles. Empirical Findings and Theoretical Implications [Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 49]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Glahn, E., Håkansson, G., Hammarberg, B., Holmen, A. & Hvenekilde, A. 2001. Processability in Scandinavian second language acquisition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 23: 389–416. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Goad, H. & White, L. 2004. Ultimate attainment of L2 inflection: Effects of L1 prosodic structure. In Eurosla Yearbook 4, S. Foster-Cohen, M. Sharwood-Smith, A. Sorace & M. Ota (eds), 119–145. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
2009. Articles in Turkish/English interlanguage revisited: Implications of vowel harmony. In Garcia Mayo & Hawkins (eds), 201–232.Google Scholar
Ionin, T. & Montrul, S. 2009. Article use and generic reference: Parallels between L1- and L2-acquisition. In Garcia Mayo & Hawkins (eds), 147–174.Google Scholar
Jin, F., Åfarli, T. & van Dommelen, W. A. 2009. Variability in the L2 acquisition of Norwegian DPs: An evaluation of some current SLA models. In Garcia Mayo & Hawkins (eds), 175–200.Google Scholar
Julien, M. 2005. Nominal Phrases from a Scandinavian Perspective [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 87]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kupisch, T. 2007. Determiners in bilingual German-Italian children: What they tell us about the relation between language influence and language dominance. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 10(1): 57–78. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kupisch, T. M., Bohnacker, U. & Snape, N. 2009. Article acquisition in English, German, Norwegian and Swedish. In Little Words: Their History, Phonology, Syntax, Semantics, Pragmatics and Acquisition, R. P. Leow, H. Campos & D. Lardiere (eds), 223–235. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Meisel, J. M. 2011. First and Second Language Acquisition: Parallels and Differences. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2013. Sensitive phases in successive language acquisition: The critical period hypothesis revisited. In The Cambridge Handbook of Biolinguistics, C. Boeckx & K. K. Grohmann (eds), 69–85. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Montrul, S. A. 2008. Incomplete Acquisition in Bilingualism. Re-examining the Age Factor [Studies in Bilingualism 39]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rodina, Y. & Westergaard, M. 2013. The acquisition of gender and declension class in a non-transparent system: Monolinguals and bilinguals. Studia Linguistica 67(1): 47–67. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rodina, Y., & Westergaard, M. 2015. Grammatical gender in bilingual Norwegian-Russian acquisition: The role of input and transparency. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 20(1): 197–214. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Selinker, L. 1972. Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics 10: 209–231. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1992. Rediscovering Interlanguage. London: Longman.Google Scholar
Trenkic, D. 2007. Variability in second language article production: Beyond the representational deficit vs. processing constraints debate. Second Language Research 23(3): 289–327. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2009. Accounting for patterns of article omissions and substitutions in second language production. In Garcia Mayo & Hawkins (eds), 115–144.Google Scholar
Trudgill, P. 2013. Gender maintenance and loss in Totenmålet, English, and other major Germanic varieties. In search of Universal Grammar: From Old Norse to Zoque [Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 202], T. Lohndal, 77–107. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Unsworth, S. 2007. Child L2, adult L2, child L1: Differences and similarities. A study on the acquisition of direct object scrambling in Dutch. Language Acquisition 14(2): 215–217. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2008. Age and input in the acquisition of grammatical gender in Dutch. Second Language Research 24: 365–396. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Unsworth, S., Argyri, F., Cornips, L., Hulk, A., Sorace, A. & Tsimpli, I. 2012. The role of age of onset and input in early child bilingualism in Greek and Dutch. Applied Psycholinguistics 35(4): 1–41.Google Scholar
Vangsnes, Ø.A. 1999. The Identification of Functional Architecture. PhD dissertation, University of Bergen.Google Scholar
White, L. 2003. Fossilization in steady state L2 grammars: Persistent problems with inflectional morphology. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 6: 129–41. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Zdorenko, T. & Paradis, J. 2008. The acquisition of articles in child second language English: Fluctuation, transfer or both? Second Language Research 24(2): 227–250. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011. Articles in child L2 English: When L1 and L2 acquisition meet at the interface. First Language 32(1–2): 38–62.Google Scholar