TY - JOUR
T1 - Learning about different ways of expressing number in the development of Palestinian arabic
AU - Ravid, Dorit
AU - Hayek, Lubna
PY - 2003
Y1 - 2003
N2 - The paper describes the acquisition of three number categories - sound feminine noun plurals, duals, collectives - in a dialect of Palestinian Arabic spoken in the north of Israel. The study population consisted of 58 children aged 3;6-4;6, 5;0-6;0, 6;0-7;0, and 7;0-8;0, all monolingual speakers of Palestinian Arabic as their mother tongue. Thirty noun stimuli denoting fruits and vegetables familiar to young children were presented in pictures to elicit plural, dual and collective forms. Analysis of the correct results showed two different acquisition patterns: clear development in production of sound feminine nouns and dual nouns, and no increase above the initial 50% in producing collective nouns. Dual contexts elicited constructions preceded by the numeral 'two'. Collectives and sound feminine plurals tended to replace each other. The study highlights children's perception of noun reference through their learning of how to express number distinctions in a sparsely investigated language that challenges its speakers by marking number in multiple and often opaque ways.
AB - The paper describes the acquisition of three number categories - sound feminine noun plurals, duals, collectives - in a dialect of Palestinian Arabic spoken in the north of Israel. The study population consisted of 58 children aged 3;6-4;6, 5;0-6;0, 6;0-7;0, and 7;0-8;0, all monolingual speakers of Palestinian Arabic as their mother tongue. Thirty noun stimuli denoting fruits and vegetables familiar to young children were presented in pictures to elicit plural, dual and collective forms. Analysis of the correct results showed two different acquisition patterns: clear development in production of sound feminine nouns and dual nouns, and no increase above the initial 50% in producing collective nouns. Dual contexts elicited constructions preceded by the numeral 'two'. Collectives and sound feminine plurals tended to replace each other. The study highlights children's perception of noun reference through their learning of how to express number distinctions in a sparsely investigated language that challenges its speakers by marking number in multiple and often opaque ways.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=34248697925&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/0142723703023001003
DO - 10.1177/0142723703023001003
M3 - ???researchoutput.researchoutputtypes.contributiontojournal.article???
AN - SCOPUS:34248697925
VL - 23
SP - 41
EP - 63
JO - First Language
JF - First Language
SN - 0142-7237
IS - 1
ER -