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The role of consistency in use of morphosyntactic forms in child-directed speech in the acquisition of Irish, a minority language undergoing rapid language change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 December 2019

Stanislava ANTONIJEVIC ,
Sarah Ann MUCKLEY  and
Nicole MÜLLER
Stanislava ANTONIJEVIC*
Affiliation:
National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland
Sarah Ann MUCKLEY
Affiliation:
National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland HSE West, Ireland
Nicole MÜLLER
Affiliation:
University College Cork, Ireland
*
*Corresponding author: Speech & Language Therapy, Aras Moyola, NUI Galway, University Road, Galway, Ireland E-mail: stanislava.antonijevic@nuigalway.ie
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Abstract

Irish is a rapidly changing minority language spoken as the main community language in some areas of the officially Irish-speaking Gaeltacht regions in Ireland. We analyse narratives from 17 parent–child dyads, living in one such area. All children, aged 3–6;4, had high exposure to the local variety of Irish. The input quality was measured by specifying consistency and accuracy of use of morphosyntactic forms in parental narratives directed to their children. The same morphosyntactic forms were analysed in narrative retell by the children. The children produced with high accuracy those forms that the parents used consistently and accurately. For the forms where parents’ usage was inconsistent, large variation in the children's usage was observed. The findings suggest that consistency and accuracy in the use of morphosyntactic forms in the parental language is an important factor in language acquisition; however, its influence might be confounded by other factors.

Keywords

language acquisitionmorphosyntaxIrishinputexposure
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 47 , Special Issue 2: The Influence of Input Quality and Communicative Interaction on Language Development Part 2 , March 2020 , pp. 267 - 288
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

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