The role of gender in language acquisition

supports Slobin’s (1985) claim that linguistic systems, in which two-member oppositions are marked formally by suffixes, are acquired quicker than those which do not possess such marking. In fact, children which have to acquire a language with a three-gender system or in which morphonological markers denote several categories simultaneously, e.g. gender, number and case, need more time to master the category of gender.

On the other hand, data from Polish corroborate the fact that children are capable of acquiring this relatively complex category by mastering the rules which are based exclusively on formal criteria (Smoczyńska 1985: 646).Results obtained from data on Lithuanian can be considered as one more exception, which supports the hypothesis of a fairly quick and easy acquisition