Abstract
This paper investigates the role of input in the code-mixing (CM) of a German-English bilingual child between the age of 2;3 until 3;11. Supporting a usage-based approach to linguistic theory, multiword units are shown to play an important role in language acquisition scenarios, both in the input children receive as well as in their own early language production.
The current study combines findings from Child-directed-speech (CDS) and children’s output to investigate whether utterance-initial, multiword units in the code-mixing of a German-English bilingual child can be traced back to patterns found in the input.
The findings reveal that a large proportion of the child code-mixed (78%) and parental input (59%) data instantiate the selection of multiword units. Additionally, we found that many of the units used by the child (74%) correlate with units in the parental input suggesting that bilingual children construct their code-mixed utterances on the basis of both concrete lexical strings and partially schematic patterns they have heard before.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Usage-based contact linguistics: An introduction to the special issue
- Towards a usage-based model of early code-switching: Evidence from three language pairs
- Individual entrenchment vs. community-wide conventionalization of contact features in L2 Basque speakers’ individual styles
- Entrenchment and productivity: The role of input in the code-mixing of a German-English bilingual child
- English-Estonian code-copying: Comparing blogs and vlogs
- A usage-based approach to “language” in language contact
- The (near) absence of English in Flemish dinner table conversations
- The Effects of Technology-Mediated TBLT on Enhancing the Speaking Abilities of University Students in a Collaborative EFL Learning Environment
- Conceptual issues in strategy research: Examining the roles of teachers and students in formal education settings
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Usage-based contact linguistics: An introduction to the special issue
- Towards a usage-based model of early code-switching: Evidence from three language pairs
- Individual entrenchment vs. community-wide conventionalization of contact features in L2 Basque speakers’ individual styles
- Entrenchment and productivity: The role of input in the code-mixing of a German-English bilingual child
- English-Estonian code-copying: Comparing blogs and vlogs
- A usage-based approach to “language” in language contact
- The (near) absence of English in Flemish dinner table conversations
- The Effects of Technology-Mediated TBLT on Enhancing the Speaking Abilities of University Students in a Collaborative EFL Learning Environment
- Conceptual issues in strategy research: Examining the roles of teachers and students in formal education settings