Subject-verb agreement marking by Ghanaian learners of French

Abstract

In learning French as a foreign language, mastery of agreement marking is indicative of learner progression. In this article, I focus on how subject-verb agreement markers are acquired by Ghanaian learners of French. Based on written data collected from examination scripts, I attempt to present a coherent explanation for the trends noted. The results show that allomorphy characterises the verb stem and influences the production of agreement markers. While verbs with a single stems are strongly associated with first-person singular marking; verbs without an identifiable stem are more strongly associated with third-person singular marking. Interpreting this within the In the item-learning/rule-learning dichotomy, it is argued that both strategies are simultaneously deployed. Consequently, it is suggested that the dichotomy between rule-based versus item-based learning can be impacted by the modality of language.