On variation in gender agreement: the neutralization of pronominal gender in Dutch

in Giacalone Ramat, Anna; Mauri, Caterina; Molinelli, Piera (Eds.) Synchrony and diachrony: a dynamic interface (in press)

Studies on developments in pronominal gender agreement often focus on the semantic guidelines that are used to replace grammatical agreement with. However, pragmatic factors contribute to the competition ... [more ▼]

Studies on developments in pronominal gender agreement often focus on the semantic guidelines that are used to replace grammatical agreement with. However, pragmatic factors contribute to the competition between syntactic and semantic agreement as well. This paper analyzes two prominence factors contributing to the overall discourse salience of the antecedent noun and their impact on grammatical agreement in personal pronouns. First, the results will reveal that the antecedent’s referential status i.e. the assumed cognitive status the antecedent has in the mind of the addressee (cf. the Givenness Hierarchy) exerts influence on the use of gender-marked pronouns. Secondly, this study will indicate that antecedents in subject position trigger more syntactic agreement than antecedents with other grammatical functions. [less ▲]

On the use of gender-marked personal pronouns: towards a semantic system

Conference (2011, June 30)

Overriding the norm: the use of gender-marked personal pronouns in spoken language

Scientific conference (2011, March 18)

De dynamiek van hersemantisering

in Taal en Tongval (2009)

The southern Dutch variety has a traditional, so-called ‘grammatical’ gender system, in which pronouns agree in gender with their antecedent noun, which can be masculine, feminine or neuter. For most ... [more ▼]

The southern Dutch variety has a traditional, so-called ‘grammatical’ gender system, in which pronouns agree in gender with their antecedent noun, which can be masculine, feminine or neuter. For most nouns, there is no apparent semantic motivation underlying gender assignment. However, this kind of grammatical system may be replaced with a system that makes use of semantically-motivated gender-marked pronouns, by a process termed ‘resemantisation’. Certain elements of semantic gender systems are to be found in the language acquisition of southern children. This paper addresses the question to what extent these semantic tendencies in pronoun usage by children are indicative of an ongoing change in the southern pronominal gender system. Hence it focuses on pronominal gender usage of adults and adolescents as well as language acquiring children. The results reveal fi rst, that even adolescents do not yet reach an adult-like profi ciency in the grammatical gender system, and, second, that the infl uence of grammatical gender on pronominal reference gradually decreases from generation to generation. Though grammatical gender still stands strong, clear semantic patterns are observed, which indicate an ongoing process of resemantisation. The data for adolescents also suggest that the resemantisation process is pushed forward by language acquirers. In this paper the dynamics of this process will be discussed as well as how this fi ts in the typology of resemantisation pathways. [less ▲]

De koe? Zolang die maar melk geeft!

in Over Taal (2008), 47(2), 45-47

Pronominale hersemantisering in het Nederlandse genussysteem

Master's dissertation (2008)