Input frequency and the acquisition of subject-verb agreement in number in spoken and written French

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe present study focuses on the characteristics of subject-verb agreement in number in spoken and written French, two morphological systems that are very different. In particular, we investigate the impact of frequency of forms and morphological patterns in the input on the acquisition of number agreement in monolingual and bilingual French-speaking children (n = 32). Our results demonstrate an almost perfect fit between the partial and heterogeneous nature of number agreement in the spoken input and the errors found in the children's spoken narratives. However, the influence of a highly systematic written number-agreement on the children's written narratives is weak, mainly due to the lack of phonological cues of number agreement in written French.