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Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXXIII: Papers selected from the Annual Symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Toronto, Canada, 2019
Edited by Abdel-Khalig Ali and Atiqa Hachimi
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 11] 2022
► pp. 169–198

Tracing the acquisition of definiteness in Emirati Arabic

| United Arab Emirates University
This paper presents initial results on the acquisition trajectory of the definite determiner əl- in Emirati Arabic. It is shown that Emirati children follow a maturational process sporadically producing target-like fully inflected DPs early on, but dropping determiners frequently in obligatory syntactic contexts, including prepositional phrases, after demonstratives, with generic nouns and certain proper names. In addition, children add determiners in contexts where they are illicit in the target language, including new referents and possessive structures. We argue for an intact syntactic D-system in early stages of acquisition but that the DP projection is underspecified, due to pragmatic factors, i.e. the children have not yet fully mastered the complex interplay between syntactic environment and pragmatic/discourse knowledge.
Keywords: L1 acquisition, definiteness, Emirati Arabic, syntax-pragmatics interface, Interface Hypothesis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Definiteness, specificity, and their realization in EA
    • 2.1The concepts of definiteness and specificity
    • 2.2Realization of definiteness and specificity in EA
  • 3.Theories of acquisition of definiteness
    • 3.1Article omissions and errors
    • 3.2Interface conditions
  • 4.Child data
    • 4.1Determiner omission
    • 4.2Illicit determiner insertion
  • 5.Discussion
  • 6.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 6 December 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.11.08nte
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