Morphological Variability in Interlanguage Grammars: New Evidence From the Acquisition of Gender and Number in Italian Determiner Phrases and Direct Object Pronouns - Paper

Oct 15, 2026

Investigates morphological variability in adult English learners’ Italian production, focusing on Italian determiners, descriptive adjectives, and direct object pronouns. Tests whether morphological errors arise from computational difficulties or representational limitations in second-language grammars, discussing competing explanations such as missing functional structure, partially developed morphological competence, performance constraints, and mapping failures from available syntactic information. Argues that Italian DP and pronoun morphological features are fully acquirable despite absence in learners’ native grammar, and that systematic erroneous forms reflect a general deficiency in assembling morphological features for lexical items.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages23

Reading Time58 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Competing accounts of morphological delay

Functional structure vs. computational mapping

Performance vs. representational explanations

Morphological Variability in Interlanguage Grammars: New Evidence From the Acquisition of Gender and Number in Italian Determiner Phrases and Direct Object Pronouns Maurizio Santoro Queensborough Community College, CUNY Abstract In this paper, I investigate the phenomenon of morphological variability in the production of Italian determiners, descriptive adjectives, and direct object pronouns by adult English learners of Italian to determine whether morphological errors are the result of computational or representational difficulties. Second language acquisitionists do seem to agree on whether erroneous morphological forms noticeable even in advanced second language grammars due to the absence of the functional apparatus responsible for their feature-checking, a partially developed morphological competence, or even learners‟ performance limitations. Data have shown that the morphological features of Italian Determiner Phrases (DPs) and pronouns are fully acquirable, despite their absence in the grammar of learners‟ native language. Furthermore, adult English speakers‟ precocious familiarity with Italian nominal and pronominal morphology, and the uniform occurrence of erroneous forms in their interlanguage grammars suggest that morphological variability does not stem from the absence of the necessary functional structure, but from a general deficiency in properly “assembling” the morphological features of a particular lexical item, and learners‟ inability to map them with the syntactic information available. Résumé Dans cet article, j‟examine le phénomène de la variabilité morphologique dans la production des syntagmes nominaux et pronominaux italiens par les adultes anglophonesafin de déterminer si des erreurs morphologiques sont le résultat de difficultés de computation ou de représentation. La recherche actuelle en l‟acquisition d‟une langue étrangère semble pas être capable d‟expliquer si les formes morphologiques fossilisées visibles dans les grammaires avancées de ces langues sont dues à une déficience syntaxique sous-jacente, à une compétence morphologique partiellement développée, ou à des limites performatives des apprenants. Les résultats de l‟étude ont montré que les caractéristiques morphologiques des articles déterminants, adjectifs, et pronoms objet direct italienspeuvent être appris, malgré leur absence dans la grammaire de la langue maternelle. Parailleurs, la familiarité précoce des apprenants avec la morphologie nominale et pronominaleen italien et l‟apparition systématique des formes impropres suggèrent que la variabilité morphologique ne provient pas de l‟absence de la structure fonctionnelle nécessaire, maisd‟une carence générale à « assembler » correctement les caractéristiques morphologiquesd‟un élément lexical particulier, et à l‟incapacité des apprenants de les associer à la information syntaxique disponible. Morphological Variability in Interlanguage Grammars: New Evidence From the Acquisition of Gender and Number in Italian Determiner Phrases and Direct Object Pronouns Introduction The acquisition of morphology in interlanguage settings has been the object of a systematic analysis in recent years. There is a large body of literature that has investigated the development of nominal (e.g., Francescina, 2001, 2002; Grandfeldt, 2000; Hawkins, & Francescina, 2004; Santoro, 2008, 2010; White,Valenzuela, Kozlowska-MacGregor, & Yan-Kit, 2004) or verbal morphology (e.g., Lardière, 1998a, 1998b, 2006; Prévost, 2006; Prévost & White, 2000) in second language (L2 )grammars. These studies have indicated that the acquisition of the morphological features of the target language follows a long developmental process characterized by the presence of numerous ungrammatical formseven at advanced stages. Many L2 researchers do not seem to agree on the underlying cause of this delay. Does it result, for instance, from the absence of the relative L2 functional structure or is it more a computational probl

FAQs

What does the paper examine about adult learners of Italian?

It examines morphological variability in how adult English learners produce Italian determiners, descriptive adjectives, and direct object pronouns.

What main question does the paper address about morphological errors?

Whether the errors stem from computational difficulties or from representational limitations within second-language grammars.

What conclusion does the paper suggest about acquiring Italian gender and number morphology?

Italian morphological features in determiner phrases and pronouns are presented as fully acquirable, and variability is attributed to difficulties assembling and mapping morphological features rather than missing functional structure.

Oct 15, 2026

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