The acquisition of agreement markings by simultaneous and consecutive bilingual children in light of the missing surface inflection hypothesis (MSIH)

Abstract

This study investigates the acquisition of L2 agreement markings by L1-Indonesian-speaking young learners of English. Two L2 children aged two and nine were involved in the study. Data from the subjects, consisting of their language use and exposure as well as transcripts of spontaneous oral productions,have been collectedcontinuously over a period of 12 months. All the audio recordingswere then transcribed and analysed using CLAN software in CHAT format. Following this, the utterances consisting tense and agreement structures were specifically analysed and calculated. Counts of suppliance in obligatory contexts were then factored into a specific formula, which ultimately produced data about participant’s accuracy score in supplying the morphemes being investigated. Results of the study suggested that there was optionality in the production of agreement morphemes. This finding is in line with the claims presented in the Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis (Prévost & White, 2000)