Abstract
This paper discusses grammatical gender in Norwegian by bringing together data from first language acquisition, Norwegian heritage language, and dialect change. In all these contexts, gender is often claimed to be a vulnerable category, arguably due to the relative non-transparency of gender assignment. Furthermore, the feminine gender is in the process of being lost in many Norwegian dialects, as feminine agreement forms (for example, the indefinite article) are merged with the masculine. The definite suffix, in contrast, is quite stable, as it is acquired early and does not undergo attrition/change. We argue that the combined data provide evidence that gender and declension class are separate phenomena, and we outline a possible formal analysis to account for the findings.*
Highlights
What is grammatical gender? How is it acquired and how does it change in situations of language contact or reduced input and use? what can studies on the acquisition and attrition/change of gender tell us about this somewhat mysterious linguistic category? In this paper, we discuss recent research on acquisition and change of grammatical gender, with a focus on Norwegian varieties, and we make an attempt at tackling these fundamental questions
We have identified a common pattern: The feminine gender is vulnerable, which is clearly seen in the disappearance of the indefinite article
We have proposed an outline of a formal analysis that can capture the transition from a three- to a two-gender system in Norwegian, both for gender markers proper and for declension class markers
Summary
What is grammatical gender? How is it acquired and how does it change in situations of language contact or reduced input and use? what can studies on the acquisition and attrition/change of gender tell us about this somewhat mysterious linguistic category? In this paper, we discuss recent research on acquisition and change of grammatical gender, with a focus on Norwegian varieties, and we make an attempt at tackling these fundamental questions. This means that declension class features do not take part in syntactic operations such as, for example, agreement For this reason, much work within the framework of DM argues that declension class information is inserted after syntax proper, in what DM labels the morphological component; that is, postsyntactically (see, among others, Embick & Halle 2005, Kihm 2005, Halle & Matushansky 2006, Steriopolo 2008, Embick 2010, Alexiadou 2011, Kramer 2015, Vadella 2016; see Svenonius 2017 for a somewhat different theoretical approach to some of the Norwegian data). This analysis captures the observed generalizations regarding grammatical gender in Norwegian, including the distinction between grammatical gender and declension class
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