Loss of Gender Agreement in L1 Attrition: Preliminary Results

Abstract

The purpose of the present investigation was to obtain preliminary data on the effects of first language (LI) loss on the Spanish of bilingual children, particularly with respect to noun phrase (NP) gender agreement. Two children, bilingual in English and Spanish, were followed longitudinally and their use of gender agreement was examined. Data on incidence and type of NP gender agreement errors were obtained. Results of the investigation suggest that Spanish gender agreement morphology may be vulnerable to language loss. Nevertheless, differences in relative impact of L1 loss on gender agreement varied among the children. In contrast to previous research with Spanish-speaking children who are learning English as a second language and who have language impairment, it appears that gender errors are the result of the language contact situation, and not because of language learning deficits. Possible reasons for the observed patterns and directions for future research are presented.