Do learners learn Zulu the way children do? A response to Suzman

Abstract

This paper reports on a study of the acquisition of Zulu morphology by non-Zulu learners. The study focused on the ease of acquisition of the identificative copulative and the noun class and agreement system across Grade 6 and 7 learners. Variability in the accurate production of these structures was examined in terms of both spoken and written language data. The research was motivated by findings from a study of Zulu first language acquisition (Suzman, 1991; 1995; 1999) which proposed that early acquisition of these structures by children was attributable to the pervasive and regular nature of the agreement system. The current study investigated these claims with reference to Zulu second language acquisition and found evidence of both overgeneralization and confusion of morphemes across tasks.