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The Acquisition of Differential Object Marking
Edited by Alexandru Mardale and Silvina Montrul
[Trends in Language Acquisition Research 26] 2020
► pp. 105–131

Chapter 4
The acquisition of Differential Object Marking in Basque as a sociolinguistic variable

| California State University Long Beach

Following variationist approaches to second language acquisition, this study examines the variable use of Differential Object Marking (DOM) in Basque as a second language and tests whether attitudes towards Basque DOM plays a role in its use. The spontaneous speech of 15 advanced learners and 12 intermediate learners were compared to the speech of 24 Basque-dominant bilinguals. Attitude data was gathered by means of a matched-guise experiment in which participants rated a number of guises with DOM based on two traits (Basqueness and correctness). Results indicated that the learners’ differences in constraining the use of Basque DOM were affected by their attitudes towards DOM, providing further evidence that social meaning plays a role in acquisition process of L2 grammars.

Keywords: Differential Object Marking, Basque, language acquisition, language attitudes
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Differential Object Marking in Basque
  • 3.The study
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Tasks
      • 3.2.1Sociolinguistic interviews
      • 3.2.2Matched-Guise experiment
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Sociolinguistic interviews
    • 4.2Matched-guise experiment
  • 5.Discussion and conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
  • List of abbreviations
Published online: 18 June 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tilar.26.04rod
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