Abstract
This paper investigates aspects of the noun phrase from a Scandinavian heritage language perspective, with an emphasis on noun phrase-internal gender agreement and noun declension. Our results are somewhat surprising compared with earlier research: We find that noun phrase-internal agreement for the most part is rather stable. To the extent that we find attrition, it affects agreement in the noun phrase, but not the declension of the noun. We discuss whether this means that gender is lost and has been reduced to a pure declension class, or whether gender is retained. We argue that gender is actually retained in these heritage speakers. One argument for this is that the speakers who lack agreement in complex noun phrases, have agreement intact in simpler phrases. We have thus found that the complexity of the noun phrase is crucial for some speakers. However, among the heritage speakers we also find considerable inter-individual variation, and different speakers can have partly different systems.
Highlights
As has been shown in a number of recent studies (e.g., Montrul, 2008; Pascual y Cabo et al, 2012; Benmamoun et al, 2013; Kupisch et al, 2014; Johannessen and Salmons, 2015; Polinsky, 2015b; Larsson and Johannessen, 2015a,b), heritage languages can provide important insights into the nature of language acquisition, the linguistic effects of bilingualism across the lifespan of the speaker, and the principles behind linguistic change1
We have looked at agreement in the noun phrase
The Scandinavian noun phrase clearly poses several difficulties in language acquisition, including double definiteness marking (Anderssen, 2012, p. 4), agreement and gender assignment to the noun, and it has previously been shown to be affected in attrition
Summary
As has been shown in a number of recent studies (e.g., Montrul, 2008; Pascual y Cabo et al, 2012; Benmamoun et al, 2013; Kupisch et al, 2014; Johannessen and Salmons, 2015; Polinsky, 2015b; Larsson and Johannessen, 2015a,b), heritage languages can provide important insights into the nature of language acquisition, the linguistic effects of bilingualism across the lifespan of the speaker, and the principles behind linguistic change. In Norwegian and Swedish, attributive adjectives, and determiners are inflected for number, definiteness, and, in indefinite singular noun phrases, for gender, as in (1). It seems that for those speakers that produce non-target noun phrases, agreement poses problems, while gender assignment to nouns, as apparent from the definiteness suffix, is unproblematic. Searching for a simple noun phrase like ett år ‘one year’, we get 19 hits with a neuter determiner (ett, æit, itt etc.), and 8 with a masculine determiner (ein, en, enn) Both the definiteness suffix and the indefinite determiner reveal correct agreement forms compatible with the neuter-ness of the noun. Our hypothesis is that it is agreement rather than gender assignment and declension class that deviates for the heritage speakers It is worth asking if it is the complexity of the noun phrase that determines the extent of agreement. We look closer at the two Norwegian Heritage speakers that have revealed the highest amount of deviant constructions, since these are the ones that are likely to have enough data to be subjected to a quantitative comparison of constructions and for possible systematicity to be evident
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