Browsing by Author "de Villiers, Jill"

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    Number Agreement in English and Xhosa
    (Oxford University Press, 2007) de Villiers, Jill; College, Smith; Gxilishe, Sandile
    In this paper we seek to raise questions about the nature of number agreement in the grammars of young children, whether they are learning languages poor in number agreement (African American English (AAE)), relatively simple (Mainstream American English (MAE)) or inherently complex (Xhosa). At first glance, number agreement appears to be a straightforward mechanism, but that mechanism is called into question by peculiar asymmetries of production and comprehension that demand more explanation and exploration. These findings must necessarily be regarded as preliminary, and some studies are still underway to answer the next questions.