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Part of
Perspectives on Arabic Linguistics XXXI: Papers from the annual symposium on Arabic Linguistics, Norman, Oklahoma, 2017
Edited by Amel Khalfaoui and Youssef A. Haddad
[Studies in Arabic Linguistics 8] 2019
► pp. 205–234

Palestinian Arabic dual formation in typically developing heritage speakers of Palestinian Arabic

| Adelphi University
| Columbia University
| Teachers College, Columbia University

This study provides preliminary data on Palestinian Arabic and English plural elicitations in Palestinian Arabic heritage-speaking children in the United States. Since dual formation is present in Palestinian Arabic but not English, this kind of investigation could elucidate whether a shift from heritage language (Arabic) to language of environmental dominance (English) affects the ability to access L1 plural formation. An elicited production task was administered to 21 typically developing Palestinian Arabic heritage-speaking children, aged 5;04 to 9;11 years. The task was designed to elicit productions of Palestinian Arabic dual and sound and broken plural, and regular and irregular plurals in English. Half the items in each language and category were based on real words and the other half on pseudowords. Parent questionnaires provided background information. Findings revealed systematic effects of language, plural category, and lexicality. Dual production correlated with feminine plural formation in Arabic, and dual appeared to be preferred over masculine and broken plurals. Effects of lexicality across the two languages provided insight into distinct patterns of productivity for plural marking. Although effects of socioeconomic status were not found to be significant, parental education and home exposure to Palestinian Arabic correlated with children’s performance on irregular pluralization. Findings are discussed with a view to informing further studies.

Keywords: heritage speakers, Arabic, dual, plural, bilingualism, language acquisition, children
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Arabic and English pluralization systems: An overview
    • Arabic vs. English pluralization systems: Structural characteristics and differences
    • Arabic number categories and monolingual acquisition
    • Experimental hypotheses and predictions
  • 3.Experimental study
    • Participants
    • Materials
    • Procedure
  • Results
    • Dual marking performance
    • Correlations
    • Summary
  • 5.Discussion
    • Future research and implications
  • 6.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 8 July 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/sal.8.09kha
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