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7 Investigating child language acquisition from a joint perspective: A comparison of traditional and new L1 speakers of English

  • Sarah Buschfeld and Gerold Schneider
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Acquisition and Variation in World Englishes
This chapter is in the book Acquisition and Variation in World Englishes

Abstract

This chapter presents one of the first studies on the acquisition of English by young children that is informed by both corpus linguistics and World Englishes research. It compares the acquisition of past tense marking across different variety types and acquisitional settings based on data from the CHEsS corpus (Children’s English in Singapore; Buschfeld 2020) and different corpora from the CHILDES database (https://childes.talkbank.org). Specifically, we compare two- to twelve-yearold simultaneous bilingual English-Chinese children in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the US, and monolingual English children in the US. Our results suggest that important differences exist between past tense marking in the different scenarios. It is shown that, different from the monolingual US children, missing past tense inflections are characteristic of the Chinese-English bilinguals’ productions, even in later acquisitional stages. The degree to which the Chinese bilingual speakers retain them, however, depends on their acquisitional background and the linguistic input they receive.

Abstract

This chapter presents one of the first studies on the acquisition of English by young children that is informed by both corpus linguistics and World Englishes research. It compares the acquisition of past tense marking across different variety types and acquisitional settings based on data from the CHEsS corpus (Children’s English in Singapore; Buschfeld 2020) and different corpora from the CHILDES database (https://childes.talkbank.org). Specifically, we compare two- to twelve-yearold simultaneous bilingual English-Chinese children in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the US, and monolingual English children in the US. Our results suggest that important differences exist between past tense marking in the different scenarios. It is shown that, different from the monolingual US children, missing past tense inflections are characteristic of the Chinese-English bilinguals’ productions, even in later acquisitional stages. The degree to which the Chinese bilingual speakers retain them, however, depends on their acquisitional background and the linguistic input they receive.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. 1 The current role of children and adolescents in World Englishes research 1
  4. Part I: Language in the family
  5. 2 Language among Trinidadian-heritage children raised in diaspora 13
  6. 3 Language use patterns and strategies for children’s English language development: Insights from Chinese descendant mothers in multilingual Malaysia 37
  7. 4 Family language policies in Thailand: Multiliteracy practices and Global Englishes 59
  8. 5 Parental language ideologies and children’s language use in Singapore – raising speakers of “Standard” English? 83
  9. Part II: Language acquisition and language learning in multilingual contexts
  10. 6 Syntactic and lexical complexity in CLIL and EFL written production: Evidence for ELF as a WEs paradigm in Turkey 111
  11. 7 Investigating child language acquisition from a joint perspective: A comparison of traditional and new L1 speakers of English 133
  12. 8 Speech rhythm in Cameroon English: A cross-generational study 159
  13. 9 From second to first language: Language shift in Singapore and Ireland 177
  14. Part III: Attitudes and identity
  15. 10 Children’s language attitudes in a World Englishes community: A focus on St. Kitts 205
  16. 11 Youth identity as linguistic identity: Political engagement and language acquisition and use in Hong Kong 227
  17. 12 Varieties of English and Third Culture Kids in Hong Kong 255
  18. 13 Variation and change in the NURSE vowel in Trinidadian English: An apparent-time analysis of adolescent and adult speakers 279
  19. 14 How linguistically tolerant or insecure are school-aged children? A matched-guise, gamified approach for 6- to 12-year-olds in Canada 307
  20. 15 Caught between languages and cultures: Exploring linguistic and cultural identity among Maldivian adolescents 335
  21. Part IV: Summary and discussion
  22. 16 Conclusion and envoi: Language acquisition at the intersection of sociolinguistics and World Englishes research 361
  23. Index 379
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110733723-007

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Contents V
  3. 1 The current role of children and adolescents in World Englishes research 1
  4. Part I: Language in the family
  5. 2 Language among Trinidadian-heritage children raised in diaspora 13
  6. 3 Language use patterns and strategies for children’s English language development: Insights from Chinese descendant mothers in multilingual Malaysia 37
  7. 4 Family language policies in Thailand: Multiliteracy practices and Global Englishes 59
  8. 5 Parental language ideologies and children’s language use in Singapore – raising speakers of “Standard” English? 83
  9. Part II: Language acquisition and language learning in multilingual contexts
  10. 6 Syntactic and lexical complexity in CLIL and EFL written production: Evidence for ELF as a WEs paradigm in Turkey 111
  11. 7 Investigating child language acquisition from a joint perspective: A comparison of traditional and new L1 speakers of English 133
  12. 8 Speech rhythm in Cameroon English: A cross-generational study 159
  13. 9 From second to first language: Language shift in Singapore and Ireland 177
  14. Part III: Attitudes and identity
  15. 10 Children’s language attitudes in a World Englishes community: A focus on St. Kitts 205
  16. 11 Youth identity as linguistic identity: Political engagement and language acquisition and use in Hong Kong 227
  17. 12 Varieties of English and Third Culture Kids in Hong Kong 255
  18. 13 Variation and change in the NURSE vowel in Trinidadian English: An apparent-time analysis of adolescent and adult speakers 279
  19. 14 How linguistically tolerant or insecure are school-aged children? A matched-guise, gamified approach for 6- to 12-year-olds in Canada 307
  20. 15 Caught between languages and cultures: Exploring linguistic and cultural identity among Maldivian adolescents 335
  21. Part IV: Summary and discussion
  22. 16 Conclusion and envoi: Language acquisition at the intersection of sociolinguistics and World Englishes research 361
  23. Index 379
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