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Number problems in monolingual and bilingual French-speaking children: A production/comprehension divide?

Ågren, Malin LU and van de Weijer, Joost LU orcid (2013) In Language, Interaction and Acquisition 4(1). p.25-50
Abstract
The present study focuses on the acquisition of subject-verb agreement in number in spoken French. We compare production and comprehension of singular and plural verb forms in French monolingual and French-Swedish bilingual children (n=58) aged from five to ten years. Overall, the results demonstrate that subject-verb agreement in number is a challenge to all French-speaking children, be it monolingual or bilingual, due to its heterogeneous, partial and lexically restricted nature. Furthermore, in production, bilingual children omit plural verb forms significantly more often than monolinguals. However, in comprehension they pattern with their monolingual peers. The data also illustrate an asymmetric pattern: Plural verb forms are more... (More)
The present study focuses on the acquisition of subject-verb agreement in number in spoken French. We compare production and comprehension of singular and plural verb forms in French monolingual and French-Swedish bilingual children (n=58) aged from five to ten years. Overall, the results demonstrate that subject-verb agreement in number is a challenge to all French-speaking children, be it monolingual or bilingual, due to its heterogeneous, partial and lexically restricted nature. Furthermore, in production, bilingual children omit plural verb forms significantly more often than monolinguals. However, in comprehension they pattern with their monolingual peers. The data also illustrate an asymmetric pattern: Plural verb forms are more easily comprehended than produced whereas singular verb forms are more easily produced than comprehended. The reasons for this asymmetry are discussed from a usage-based perspective, focusing on the frequency of verb forms and agreement patterns in the French input. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Monolingual and bilingual acquisition of French, subject-verb agreement, number agreement, production and comprehension asymmetries, spoken French
in
Language, Interaction and Acquisition
volume
4
issue
1
pages
25 - 50
publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company
external identifiers
  • scopus:84878775043
ISSN
1879-7865
DOI
10.1075/lia.4.1.02agr
project
Age of onset and development of French
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: French studies (015012001), Linguistics and Phonetics (015010003)
id
e8581b67-7903-493a-9eac-f3b7c78c45d4 (old id 3448340)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 10:30:57
date last changed
2023-11-09 22:50:48
@article{e8581b67-7903-493a-9eac-f3b7c78c45d4,
  abstract     = {{The present study focuses on the acquisition of subject-verb agreement in number in spoken French. We compare production and comprehension of singular and plural verb forms in French monolingual and French-Swedish bilingual children (n=58) aged from five to ten years. Overall, the results demonstrate that subject-verb agreement in number is a challenge to all French-speaking children, be it monolingual or bilingual, due to its heterogeneous, partial and lexically restricted nature. Furthermore, in production, bilingual children omit plural verb forms significantly more often than monolinguals. However, in comprehension they pattern with their monolingual peers. The data also illustrate an asymmetric pattern: Plural verb forms are more easily comprehended than produced whereas singular verb forms are more easily produced than comprehended. The reasons for this asymmetry are discussed from a usage-based perspective, focusing on the frequency of verb forms and agreement patterns in the French input.}},
  author       = {{Ågren, Malin and van de Weijer, Joost}},
  issn         = {{1879-7865}},
  keywords     = {{Monolingual and bilingual acquisition of French; subject-verb agreement; number agreement; production and comprehension asymmetries; spoken French}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{25--50}},
  publisher    = {{John Benjamins Publishing Company}},
  series       = {{Language, Interaction and Acquisition}},
  title        = {{Number problems in monolingual and bilingual French-speaking children: A production/comprehension divide?}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1075/lia.4.1.02agr}},
  doi          = {{10.1075/lia.4.1.02agr}},
  volume       = {{4}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}