The sequential acquisition of L2 Spanish gender marking: Assignment and agreement
Main Article Content
Abstract
The present study examines Spanish gender assignment and agreement by 69 English-speaking learners of Spanish at four different university levels. Data collection consisted of a two-part written test in which the subjects were first asked to indicate whether each given noun from a list was masculine or feminine by writing the appropriate definite article - el, la, los, las - in front of the word (gender assignment). The second part briefly described some situations, and asked the subjects to write an appropriate adjective according to the context (gender agreement). The data yielded 2,484 responses, and were analyzed using an interlanguage approach in which all subjects production was analyzed and coded according to the type of agreement displayed. Data that did not reveal any kind of agreement were also analyzed. The results demonstrate that length of exposure to the input helps learners acquire gender. Furthermore, natural gender is acquired before grammatical gender assignment; but, even for the most advanced level of learners, neither natural nor grammatical gender agreement has been acquired, although agreement with grammatical gender nouns shows higher rates of accuracy. In addition, non-overtly and deceptively marked grammatical nouns had still not been acquired at the end of the subjects fourth semester of college Spanish. Contrary to what was predicted, it was found that learners who correctly assign gender to particular nouns do not exhibit correct gender agreement. Finally, learners tend to overuse the masculine forms only in gender agreement, not in gender assignment.
Downloads
Article Details
The Indiana University Linguistics Club Working Papers (the "Publisher") and Author(s) agree as follows.
1. Publication and Promotion: In consideration of the Publisher's agreement to publish the Work, Author hereby grants and assigns to Publisher the non-exclusive right to print, publish, reproduce, or distribute the Work throughout the world in all means of expression by any method known or hereafter developed, including electronic format. Author further grants Publisher the right to use Author's name in association with the Work in published form and in advertising and promotional materials.
2. Copyright: Copyright of the Work remains in the Author's name.
3. Prior Publication and Attribution: Author agrees not to publish the Work in print form prior to publication of the Work by the Publisher. Author agrees to notify IULCWP before publishing the Work elsewhere.
4. Author Representations: The Author represents and warrants that the Work: (a) is the Author's original Work and that the Author has full power to enter into this Agreement; (b) does not infringe the copyright or property of another; (c) contains no material that is obscene, libelous, or defamatory. Author shall indemnify and hold Publisher harmless against loss of expenses arising from breach of any such warranties.
5. Licensing and Reuse: Reuse of the published Work will be governed by a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ ). This lets others remix, tweak, and build upon the Work non-commercially; although new works must acknowledge the original IULCWP publication and be non-commercial, they do not have to be licensed on the same terms.