The acquisition of verbal paradigms in Dutch and Greek L2 children: Cross-linguistic differences and inflectional defaults

• Elma Blom ^[1] ; Vasiliki Chondrogianni ^[2] ; Theodoros Marinis ^[3] ; Nada Vasic ^[4]
  1. [1] Utrecht University

     Utrecht University

     Países Bajos

     
  2. [2] University of Edinburgh

     University of Edinburgh

     Reino Unido

     
  3. [3] University of Reading

     University of Reading

     Reino Unido

     
  4. [4] University of Amsterdam

     University of Amsterdam

     Países Bajos

     

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• Localización: International Journal of Bilingualism: interdisciplinary studies of multilingual behaviour, ISSN 1367-0069, Vol. 20, Nº. 4, 2016 (Ejemplar dedicado a: cross-linguistic aspects in child L2 acquisition), págs. 386-402
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Previous research with children learning a second language (L2) has reported errors with verb inflection and cross-linguistic variation in accuracy and error patterns. However, owing to the cross-linguistic complexity and diversity of different verbal paradigms, the cross-linguistic effects on the nature of default forms has not been directly addressed in L2 acquisition studies. In the present study, we compared accuracy and error patterns in verbal agreement inflections in L2 children acquiring Dutch and Greek, keeping the children’s L1 constant (Turkish). Results showed that inflectional defaults in Greek follow universal predictions regarding the morphological underspecification of paradigms. However, the same universal predictions do not apply to the same extent to Dutch. It is argued that phonological properties of inflected forms should be taken into account to explain cross-linguistic differences in the acquisition of inflection. By systematically comparing patterns in child L2 Dutch and Greek, this study shows how universal mechanisms and target language properties work in tandem in the acquisition of inflectional paradigms.