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Verbal inflection in the acquisition of Kuwaiti Arabic*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 November 2009

KHAWLA ALJENAIE
KHAWLA ALJENAIE*
Affiliation:
Kuwait University
*
Address for correspondence: Department of Communication Science and Languages, College for Women, Kuwait University, PO Box 5969, Al-Safat 13060, Kuwait. tel: (00965) 4983105, (00965) 4983157. e-mail: khawla.aljenaie@ku.edu.kw, k.aljenaie@gmail.com
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Abstract

This paper investigates the distribution of imperfective and perfective verb inflections in Kuwaiti Arabic. Spontaneous speech of three children (1 ; 8–3 ; 1) was analyzed for accuracy and error types. The results showed that the verbal inflections appeared correct almost all the time (89–97% of the time). Agreement errors appeared 3–11% of the time. The children did not inflect the verb in obligatory contexts in describing ongoing action 2–12% of the time. It is predicted that children acquiring Arabic would select a default form in place of fully inflected forms. The children used a non-finite form which is identical to the imperfective verbal bare stem to describe ongoing action, which is consistent with Benmamoun's argument (1999, 2000) that the imperfective bare verb is the default form in Arabic. The findings of the study are discussed in the light of the Optional Infinitive (OI) stage argued by Wexler (1994, 1996, 1998). The fact that the non-finite is non-tensed makes this type of behavior consistent with the OI.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , September 2010 , pp. 841 - 863
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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Footnotes

[*]

I would like to express my thanks to the Office Of Vice-Rector For Research at Kuwait University for supporting this project under grant number AE04/03. I am extremely thankful to the families who participated in the longitudinal study for their patience and diligence, and to Al-Islah nursery for allowing us to conduct the study in their nursery. Their participation and cooperation made this research possible. I am grateful to Abbas Benmamoun, Nina Hyams and William Snyder for their helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of this article.

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