In the rare cases where determiner forms were used, the gender of the
modified noun was marked appropriately (i.e. the feminine form was
mutated); however, these ‘mutated’ forms were, in fact, instances of unana-
lysed, rote-learned forms, or instances of nouns for which the mutated form
is accepted and widely-used as the basic form (see, e.g. Thomas, 2001, for
further discussion on these forms):
(CP1 2;6,23):
3(a) trên mynd lawr y bont (< pont, fem.) 3(b) wneud bont trenau
train-go(VN)-down-the-bridge make(VN)-bridge-trains
‘[the] train [is] going down the bridge’ ‘make a train bridge’In 3(a), the feminine noun pont is mutated in bont after the article; in 3(b), the
same noun is produced in its SM form in a non-mutatable context. Examples
such as 1a cannot, therefore, be interpreted as clear instances of intentional
gender marking.
Pronouns and adjectives
Our bilinguals produced very few pronominal forms in Welsh, fewer
than their (near-)monolingual counterparts. As can be seen in Table 3.8,
when pronouns were used, they were most often the masculine form (which
is often used as a neutral ‘it’ with respect to inanimate objects), and the
errors consisted mostly of over-generalisations to the masculine form.
In the few instances where personal pronouns were used, CP1 was start-
ing to use feminine pronouns correctly for female humans by the latest
recording session:
(CP1 2;11,6):- Erin yn mynd efo mam hi
Erin (fem.)-prt-go(VN)-with-mother-her(fem.)
‘Erin [is] going with her mother’
Cross-linguistic Influence and Patterns of Acquisition 57Table 3.8 Incidence and correct use of pronouns and demonstrative pronouns in Welsh
Pronouns Demonstratives
Produced Correct gender Produced Correct gender
CP1 2;6,23 4 100% 19 94.7%
CP1 2;7,27 4 100% 30 86.7%
CP1 2;11,6 7 71.4% (5/7) 51 88.2%
CP2 2;7,14 2 0% 9 94.7%
CP2 2;9,22 2 100% 38 86.7%
CP2 2;10,28 2 100% 14 88.2%
Monolingual 1 (2;6,09) 36 100% 74 87.8% (70/74)
Monolingual 2 (2;5,21) 90 94.4% (85/90) 15 80%