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Early noun plurals in German: regularity, productivity or default?
Sabine Laaha1, Dorit Ravid, Katharina Korecky-Kröll
1Department of Linguistics and Communication Research, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Berggasse 11/2/3, 1090 Vienna, Austria. sabine.laaha@oeaw.ac.at
Journal of Child Language
|July 11, 2006
Summary
German plural acquisition is influenced by noun productivity. Children learn high-productivity plural patterns faster than low-productivity ones, supporting a productivity scale for language development.
Area of Science:
- Linguistics
- Developmental Psychology
- Language Acquisition
Background:
- The acquisition of German plurals is complex and debated.
- Understanding factors influencing pluralization speed is crucial for language development theories.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of noun productivity in the acquisition pace of German plurals.
- To determine if a productivity scale accurately predicts plural acquisition order.
Main Methods:
- Administered a plural elicitation task to 84 Viennese German-speaking children (aged 2;6 to 6;0).
- Analyzed the accuracy of elicited plural forms based on different pluralization patterns.
Main Results:
- Children achieved higher accuracy with high-productivity plural patterns (-e, -e+U, -er+U) compared to low-productivity ones (-s, -(e)n, pure Umlaut).
- A clear hierarchy of acquisition was observed, correlating with the degree of plural pattern productivity.
Conclusions:
- Noun productivity significantly impacts the speed of German plural acquisition.
- The findings support a productivity-based scale and are consistent with both single-route and dual-route language acquisition models.
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