from Part IV - Acquisition of Morphology and Syntax
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 July 2025
Welsh grammar is characterised by an interesting set of morphosyntactic structures. Unique features within these structures distinguish Welsh – along with Irish and Scottish Gaelic – from other Indo-European varieties, and these differences offer a novel lens through which we can explore how language is learned. How children acquire the structures of Welsh, and how these structures are used by adults, has been the focus of a growing body of research over the past few years. The results of these studies have helped shape our understanding of the linguistic profiles of different types of bilingual Welsh-English speakers, in terms of their rate and pattern(s) of learning, and have highlighted some of the key factors influencing potential and achieved linguistic outcomes when learning within a minoritised bilingual context, contributing new and important insights into the various theoretical debates in the field. In this chapter, we outline how various morphosyntactic structures work in Welsh, and provide an overview of what is known from the current literature about L1 and L2 acquisition of Welsh morphosyntax, as spoken by both typically and atypically developing bilinguals. The different types of methodologies that have been applied to the study of Welsh grammar with adults and children will be discussed throughout, and suggestions for future studies presented at the end.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge-org.demo.remotlog.com is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.