Seigneuric Alix, Zagar Daniel, Meunier Fanny, Spinelli Elsa
CESG, UMR CNRS 5170, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France.
J Exp Child Psychol. 2007 Mar;96(3):229-46. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2006.12.003.
The French language has a grammatical gender system in which all nouns are assigned either a masculine or a feminine gender. Nouns provide two types of gender cues that can potentially guide gender attribution: morphophonological cues carried by endings and semantic cues (natural gender). The first goal of this study was to describe the acquisition of the probabilistic system based on phonological oppositions on word endings by French-speaking children. The second goal was to explore the extent to which this system affects categorization. In the study, 3- to 9-year-olds assigned gender categorization to invented nouns whose endings were typically masculine, typically feminine, or neutral. Two response conditions were used. In the determiner condition, children indicated the gender class by orally providing the determiner un or une marked for gender. In the picture condition, responses were given by pointing to the picture of a Martian-like female or male person that would be best called by each spoken pseudoword. Results indicated that as young as 3 years, children associated the determiner corresponding to the ending bias at greater than chance levels. Ending-consistent performance increased from 3 to 9 years of age. Moreover, from 4 years of age onward, sensitivity to endings affected categorization. Starting at that age, pictures were selected according to endings at greater than chance levels. This effect also increased with age. The discussion deals with the mechanisms of language acquisition and the relation between language and cognition.
法语有一个语法性系统，其中所有名词都被赋予阳性或阴性。名词提供两种可能引导性别归属的性别线索：词尾携带的形态语音线索和语义线索（自然性别）。本研究的首要目标是描述讲法语的儿童基于词尾语音对立的概率系统的习得情况。第二个目标是探究该系统在多大程度上影响分类。在这项研究中，3至9岁的儿童对词尾通常为阳性、阴性或中性的虚构名词进行性别分类。使用了两种反应条件。在限定词条件下，儿童通过口头提供标记性别的限定词un或une来表明性别类别。在图片条件下，通过指向最适合用每个口语化伪词称呼的类似火星人的女性或男性的图片来做出反应。结果表明，年仅3岁的儿童就能以高于随机水平的概率将限定词与词尾偏向联系起来。词尾一致性表现从3岁到9岁有所提高。此外，从4岁起，对词尾的敏感度就影响了分类。从那个年龄开始，根据词尾选择图片的概率高于随机水平。这种影响也随着年龄增长而增强。讨论涉及语言习得机制以及语言与认知的关系。
