One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Once I Caught a Fish Alive

Numerical Phrases in Child and Adult Heritage Russian

Bibliographic Data

ID7328233
AuthorsNatan Meir (0000-0001-9426-811X, Bar-Ilan University, corresponding author), Maria Polinsky (0000-0003-1460-5089, University of Maryland, College Park)
Year2024
Volume9
Issue8
Pages261-261
Publication date2024-07-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguages (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/languages9080261
OpenAlexW4401075546
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited43

This paper investigates the production of numerically-quantified phrases (NQPs) by monolingual and bilingual speakers of Russian, with Hebrew as the dominant language for the latter group. Russian NQPs exhibit a complex system of noun forms, distinguishing between singular (odin gorod ‘one city’), paucal (dva goroda ‘two cities’), and plural (pjat’ gorodov ‘five cities’); the endings of paucal and plural nouns vary depending on nominal declension class, which in turn correlates with gender. Adult and child bilinguals dominant in Hebrew (n = 37 and n = 27, respectively) were compared to monolingual Russian-speaking controls (n = 21 and n = 20, respectively). Production data were collected using a numeral-noun elicitation task, which involved eliciting 24 numerical phrases manipulated for gender (masculine, feminine) and number (paucal, plural). Compared to the monolingual controls, the bilinguals showed lower accuracy, with oversuppliance of nominative plural endings and overtly marked genitive plural endings. These non-target responses indicate the reliance on default forms and phonetically salient inflections, confirming that these factors influence non-target attainment in bilingual (heritage) grammars. The amount of exposure to Russian (as measured by age of bilingualism onset and proficiency) influenced performance significantly, underscoring the role of input in shaping bilingual grammars. The production of NQPs by Hebrew-dominant Russian speakers was similar to that by English-dominant Russian speakers as reported in previous studies, which may appear surprising given that Hebrew is characterized by richer morphology than English, and that may play a role in the maintenance of morphology in the weaker language. We offer some considerations for this lack of effect

Genitive case · Hebrew · Linguistics · Neuroscience of multilingualism · Noun · Plural · History · Language Development and Disorders · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism · Philosophy · Psychology · Reading and Literacy Development

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