Delay and acceleration in bilingual first language acquisition
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Marisa Patuto
Abstract
Research on bilingual first language acquisition has shown that bilingual children do not develop both of their two languages similarly to monolingual children. Two opposing views exist for the difference between bilingual and monolingual development. According to the first, cross-linguistic effects may either slow down or accelerate language acquisition. The opposing view holds that processing is at the heart of the difference between bilingual and monolingual language development. In the present article we will argue in favor of the position that delay is the outcome of cross-linguistic influence, where a linguistically less complex analysis is applied to both languages, A and B. We will show that delay effects depend on the language combination, and will compare German-Italian, German-Spanish and Italian-French children with respect to non-null-subject usage. At the same time, acceleration effects are visible in all bilingual children, regardless of the language combination. We will also argue that acceleration results from processing preferences. The grammatical phenomenon under investigation here is finite verb placement in bilingual German, which seems to be guided by principles of efficient computation. The empirical results allow for an interpretation of acceleration effects not in terms of cross-linguistic influence, but in terms of an effect of bilingualism as such. As a result, the differences between early child bilingualism and monolingual language development should be described in terms of the interaction of two knowledge systems and of processing effects in bilinguals.
Abstract
Research on bilingual first language acquisition has shown that bilingual children do not develop both of their two languages similarly to monolingual children. Two opposing views exist for the difference between bilingual and monolingual development. According to the first, cross-linguistic effects may either slow down or accelerate language acquisition. The opposing view holds that processing is at the heart of the difference between bilingual and monolingual language development. In the present article we will argue in favor of the position that delay is the outcome of cross-linguistic influence, where a linguistically less complex analysis is applied to both languages, A and B. We will show that delay effects depend on the language combination, and will compare German-Italian, German-Spanish and Italian-French children with respect to non-null-subject usage. At the same time, acceleration effects are visible in all bilingual children, regardless of the language combination. We will also argue that acceleration results from processing preferences. The grammatical phenomenon under investigation here is finite verb placement in bilingual German, which seems to be guided by principles of efficient computation. The empirical results allow for an interpretation of acceleration effects not in terms of cross-linguistic influence, but in terms of an effect of bilingualism as such. As a result, the differences between early child bilingualism and monolingual language development should be described in terms of the interaction of two knowledge systems and of processing effects in bilinguals.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
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Part I. (2)L1 versus L2 versus child L2
- ‘Acquisition’ in grammatical development 19
- Tense and Aspect in early French development in aL2, 2L1 and cL2 learners 47
- Subject clitics in child L2 acquisition of French 75
- Placement of infinitives in successive child language acquisition 105
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Part II. The acquisition of sentence structure and functional categories
- The developmental pathway of nominal functional categories in early child Mandarin 125
- The emergence of CP in child Basque 151
- Some directions for the systematic investigation of the acquisition of Cypriot Greek 179
- Strict Interfaces and three kinds of Multiple Grammar 205
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Part III. Autonomous development vs. crosslinguistic influence in bilingual first language acquisition
- Delay and acceleration in bilingual first language acquisition 231
- Intonation targets of yes/no questions by Spanish and German monolingual and bilingual children 263
- Perception of German vowels by bilingual Portuguese-German returnees 287
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Part IV. Language acquisition, language contact and diachronic change
- Acquisition in the context of language change 309
- On the diachronic reanalysis of null subjects and null objects in Brazilian Portuguese 331
- On the decrease in subject-verb inversion in French declaratives 355
- On the relation between acceptability and frequency 383
- Name index 405
- Subject index 409
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I. (2)L1 versus L2 versus child L2
- ‘Acquisition’ in grammatical development 19
- Tense and Aspect in early French development in aL2, 2L1 and cL2 learners 47
- Subject clitics in child L2 acquisition of French 75
- Placement of infinitives in successive child language acquisition 105
-
Part II. The acquisition of sentence structure and functional categories
- The developmental pathway of nominal functional categories in early child Mandarin 125
- The emergence of CP in child Basque 151
- Some directions for the systematic investigation of the acquisition of Cypriot Greek 179
- Strict Interfaces and three kinds of Multiple Grammar 205
-
Part III. Autonomous development vs. crosslinguistic influence in bilingual first language acquisition
- Delay and acceleration in bilingual first language acquisition 231
- Intonation targets of yes/no questions by Spanish and German monolingual and bilingual children 263
- Perception of German vowels by bilingual Portuguese-German returnees 287
-
Part IV. Language acquisition, language contact and diachronic change
- Acquisition in the context of language change 309
- On the diachronic reanalysis of null subjects and null objects in Brazilian Portuguese 331
- On the decrease in subject-verb inversion in French declaratives 355
- On the relation between acceptability and frequency 383
- Name index 405
- Subject index 409
