Acquiring an Opaque Gender System in Irish, an Endangered Indigenous Language

Autor/inn/en	Nic Fhlannchadha, Siobhán; Hickey, Tina M.
Titel	Acquiring an Opaque Gender System in Irish, an Endangered Indigenous Language
Quelle	In: First Language, 37 (2017) 5, S.475-499 (25 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0142-7237
DOI	10.1177/0142723717702942
Schlagwörter	Irish; Language Acquisition; Grammar; Form Classes (Languages); Bilingualism; English; Language Dominance; Multiple Regression Analysis; Predictor Variables; Accuracy; Semantics; Syntax; Morphology (Languages); Linguistic Input; Language Minorities; Questionnaires; Parent Attitudes; Second Language Learning; Gender Differences; Age Differences; Language Tests; Children; Adolescents; Foreign Countries; Ireland + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Irisch; Sprachaneignung; Spracherwerb; Grammatik; Analytischer Sprachbau; Bilingualismus; English language; Englisch; Sprachliche Dominanz; Prädiktor; Semantik; Morphology; Morphologie; Sprachbildung; Sprachminderheit; Fragebogen; Elternverhalten; Zweitsprachenerwerb; Geschlechterkonflikt; Age; Difference; Age difference; Altersunterschied; Language test; Sprachtest; Child; Kind; Kinder; Adolescent; Adolescence; Adoleszenz; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; Ausland; Irland
Abstract	An in-depth examination of the acquisition of grammatical gender has not previously been conducted for Irish, an endangered indigenous language now typically acquired simultaneously with English, or as L2. Children acquiring Irish must contend with the opacity of the Irish gender system and the plurifunctionality of the inflections used to mark it, while also experiencing early exposure to the majority language and variability in amount and consistency of adult input in Irish. Data were collected from 306 participants aged 6-13 years, including information on home language background which allowed children to be categorised as being from homes which were Irish-dominant, bilingual, or English-dominant. Novel measures of receptive and productive use of grammatical gender were developed to test children's understanding and production of gender marking. A standard multiple regression conducted which accounted for 39.5% of the variance showed that language background was the strongest predictor of accuracy in marking grammatical gender assignment and agreement. The later stages of acquisition of semantic and grammatical gender have not previously been investigated in Irish, and the implications for researchers, policy makers, educators and parents are discussed. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01