scholarly journals Production of Spanish Grammatical Forms in U.S. Bilingual Children

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 975-987 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alisa Baron ◽  
Lisa M. Bedore ◽  
Elizabeth D. Peña ◽  
Samantha D. Lovgren-Uribe ◽  
Amanda A. López ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Direct Object ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Common Elements ◽  
Relative Difficulty ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Grammatical Morphemes ◽  
Object Clitics ◽  
English Dominant ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance

Purpose The purpose of this analysis was to understand how grammatical morpheme production in Spanish for typically developing Spanish–English bilingual children relates to mean length of utterance in words (MLUw) and the extent to which different bilingual profiles influence order of grammatical morpheme acquisition. Method Participants included 228 Spanish–English bilingual children ages 4;0–7;6 (years;months). Grammatical morpheme accuracy was evaluated using an experimental version of the Bilingual English–Spanish Assessment (Peña, Gutiérrez-Clellen, Iglesias, Goldstein, & Bedore, 2014). MLUw data were calculated from children's narrative samples. Production accuracy of plural nouns, singular and plural definite articles, preterite tense, imperfect aspect, direct object clitics, prepositions, subjunctive, and conjunctions was calculated and analyzed as a function of MLUw in Spanish. Level of accuracy on these forms was compared for Spanish-dominant and English-dominant groups. Results Accuracy was significantly associated with MLUw. The relative difficulty of Spanish grammatical morphemes is highly similar across different bilingual profiles. Conclusions There are common elements of Spanish that are easy (imperfect, plural nouns, singular articles, conjunctions), medium (plural articles, preterite), or hard (prepositions, direct object clitics, subjunctive), regardless of whether a child is a Spanish-dominant or English-dominant bilingual.

scholarly journals Vulnerability of clitics and articles to bilingual effects in typically developing Spanish–English bilingual children

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 825-835 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anny Castilla-Earls ◽  
Ana Teresa Pérez-Leroux ◽  
Lourdes Martinez-Nieto ◽  
Maria Adelaida Restrepo ◽  
Christopher Barr
Keyword(s):  
English Proficiency ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Spanish Speaking ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Object Clitics

AbstractThis study examines bilingual effects in Spanish–English bilingual children with good maintenance of the minority language. The present study compares the performance of a group of Spanish-monolingual children (MON; n = 30) with two groups of Spanish-speaking bilingual children (Low English proficiency group: LEP; n = 36; High English proficiency group, HEP; n = 36) on the elicited productions of Spanish articles and object clitics. Our results suggest that children with LEP performed significantly lower than MON children of the same age on both articles and clitics in Spanish. However, children with HEP, who were a year older on average, performed similarly to the MON group. Both groups of bilingual children produced errors of clitic omission and substitution, but these errors were minimal in the MON group. The results suggest that Spanish clitics and articles are vulnerable to bilingual effects for English/Spanish speaking children with good Spanish maintenance.

An Introductory Examination of Speech Disfluencies in Spanish–English Bilingual Children Who Do and Do Not Stutter During Narratives

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-141
Author(s):  
Cristina Rincon ◽  
Kia Noelle Johnson ◽  
Courtney Byrd
Keyword(s):  
Diagnostic Criteria ◽  
Preliminary Data ◽  
Diagnostic Information ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Developmental Stuttering ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the frequency and type of speech disfluencies (stuttering-like and nonstuttering-like) in bilingual Spanish–English (SE) children who stutter (CWS) to SE children who do not stutter (CWNS) during narrative samples elicited in Spanish and English to provide further diagnostic information for this population and preliminary data toward an expansion of this study. Method Participants included six bilingual SE children (three CWS, three CWNS) ranging in age from 5 years to 7;5 (years;months) and recruited from the surrounding Houston, Texas area. Participants provided a narrative sample in English and Spanish. The frequency of speech disfluencies was tabulated, and mean length of utterance was measured for each sample. Results Results indicate that both talker groups exceed the diagnostic criteria typically used for developmental stuttering. Regardless of the language being spoken, CWS participants had a frequency of stuttering-like speech disfluencies that met or exceeded the diagnostic criteria for developmental stuttering that is based on monolingual English speakers. The CWNS participants varied in meeting the criteria depending on the language being spoken, with one of the three CWNS exceeding the criteria in both languages and one exceeding the criteria for percentage of stuttering-like speech disfluencies in one language. Conclusion Findings from this study contribute to the development of more appropriate diagnostic criteria for bilingual SE-speaking children to aid in the reduction of misdiagnoses of stuttering in this population.

Polish–English bilingual children overuse referential markers: MLU inflation in Polish-language narratives

2020 ◽  
pp. 014272372093376
Author(s):  
Agnieszka Otwinowska ◽  
Marcin Opacki ◽  
Karolina Mieszkowska ◽  
Marta Białecka-Pikul ◽  
Zofia Wodniecka ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Overt Pronouns ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Cohesive Devices ◽  
Dp Structure ◽  
Polish Language ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Mean Length Of Utterance ◽  
Cross Language

Polish and English differ in the surface realization of the underlying Determiner Phrase (DP): Polish lacks an article system, whereas English makes use of articles for both grammatical and pragmatic reasons. This difference has an impact on how referentiality is rendered in both languages. In this article, the authors investigate the use of referential markers by Polish–English bilingual children and Polish monolingual children. Using the LITMUS-MAIN picture stories, the authors collected speech samples of Polish–English bilinguals raised in the UK ( n = 92, mean age 5;7) and compared them with matched Polish monolinguals ( n = 92, mean age 5;7). The analyses revealed that the bilinguals’ mean length of utterance (MLU) in Polish was significantly higher than that of the monolinguals because the bilinguals produced significantly more referential markers (especially pronouns) which inflated their MLU. The authors posit that the non-standard referentiality used by the bilinguals in Polish is caused by cross-language transfer at the syntax–pragmatics interface. When producing narratives in Polish, Polish–English bilinguals overuse referential markers as cohesive devices in their stories, which is not ungrammatical, but pragmatically odd in Polish. Bilinguals tend to do this because they are immersed in English-language input, rich in overt pronouns. Thus, in the process of realizing the surface features of the Polish DP they partly rely on an underlying English DP structure.

scholarly journals Narrative abilities in early successive bilingual Slovak–English children: A cross-language comparison

2015 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
SVETLANA KAPALKOVÁ ◽  
KAMILA POLIŠENSKÁ ◽  
LENKA MARKOVÁ ◽  
JAMES FENTON
Keyword(s):  
Narrative Research ◽  
First Language ◽  
Nonword Repetition ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Skill Transfer ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Narrative Skills ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Narrative Performance ◽  
Cross Language

ABSTRACTThis study investigates macrostructure skill transfer in successive bilingual children speaking Slovak and English, a new language combination for narrative research. We examined whether narrative performance reflected language dominance and assessed relationships between nonword repetition (NWR) and narrative skills within and across languages. Forty typically developing Slovak–English bilingual children (mean age = 5 years, 10 months) were evaluated for microstructure and macrostructure performance in both languages through story telling and retelling tasks. In addition, NWR was assessed in Slovak, the children's first language (L1). Macrostructure scores were higher in their L1 than in their second language (L2), but comprehension did not differ across languages. L1 NWR was significantly related to L1 microstructure scores, but not to L1/L2 macrostructure or L2 microstructure. Implications for assessing bilingual children's language are discussed.

scholarly journals Utility of a Language Screening Measure for Predicting Risk for Language Impairment in Bilinguals

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-437 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mirza J. Lugo-Neris ◽  
Elizabeth D. Peña ◽  
Lisa M. Bedore ◽  
Ronald B. Gillam
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Screening Measure ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Discriminant Analyses ◽  
Language Screening ◽  
Larger Sample

Purpose This study evaluated the accuracy of an experimental version of the Bilingual English Spanish Oral Screener (BESOS; Peña, Bedore, Iglesias, Gutiérrez-Clellen, & Goldstein, 2008) for predicting the long-term risk for language impairment (LI) for a matched group of preschool-aged Spanish–English bilingual children with and without LI. Method A total of 1,029 Spanish–English bilingual children completed the BESOS before entering kindergarten. A subset of 167 participants completed a follow-up language evaluation in 1st grade. Twenty-one of these children were identified as having LI and were matched to a group of 21 typically developing peers from the larger sample. A series of discriminant analyses were used to determine the combination of scores on the BESOS that most accurately predicted 2 years later which children presented with and without LI. Results The linear combination of the semantics and morphosyntax scores in the best language resulted in predictive sensitivity of 95.2% and predictive specificity of 71.4%, with an overall accuracy of 81% for predicting risk for LI. Conclusion A bilingual language screener administered before kindergarten can be useful for predicting risk for LI in bilingual children in 1st grade.

Crosslinguistic transfer in the acquisition of compound words in Persian–English bilinguals

2009 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
FARZANEH FOROODI-NEJAD ◽  
JOHANNE PARADIS
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Production Task ◽  
Dominant Group ◽  
Compound Words ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
Explanatory Factors ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
English Dominant ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence

Crosslinguistic transfer in bilingual language acquisition has been widely reported in various linguistic domains (e.g., Döpke, 1998; Nicoladis, 1999; Paradis, 2001). In this study we examined structural overlap (Döpke, 2000; Müller and Hulk, 2001) and dominance (Yip and Matthews, 2000) as explanatory factors for crosslinguistic transfer in Persian–English bilingual children's production of novel compound words. Nineteen Persian monolinguals, sixteen Persian–English bilinguals, and seventeen English monolinguals participated in a novel compound production task. Our results showed crosslinguistic influence of Persian on English and of English on Persian. Bilingual children produced more right-headed compounds in Persian, compared with Persian monolinguals, and in their English task, they produced more left-headed compounds than English monolinguals. Furthermore, Persian-dominant bilinguals tended more towards left-headed compounds in Persian than the English-dominant group. These findings point to both structural overlap and language dominance as factors underlying crosslinguistic transfer.

Nasometric Comparison Between Spanish–English Bilingual and English Monolingual Children

2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie L. Perry ◽  
Katelyn Kotlarek ◽  
Lucia Mendez ◽  
Yolanda Holt ◽  
Stephen Fafulas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Significance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Speech Stimuli ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Sentence Level ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Bilingual Group

Objective: It is well established in the literature that English diagnostic tests should not be directly applied to speakers whose primary language is Spanish. Normative nasalance data across word and sentence-level stimuli among Spanish–English bilingual children living in the United States have not been provided. The present study aims to (1) compare differences in nasalance between typically developing Spanish–English bilingual children and English-speaking monolingual children and (2) determine whether within-speaker nasalance differences exist in Spanish–English bilingual children when presented with English and Spanish speech stimuli. Design: Thirty-four typically developing children including 17 monolingual English speakers and 17 Spanish–English bilingual speakers with normal velopharyngeal anatomy between 5 and 7 years of age participated in the study. Speakers were recorded using a nasometer producing sets of stimulus items at the word and sentence level in English (English monolinguals) and in both Spanish and English for bilingual children. Results: Results indicated no statistically significant difference between nasalance values across the different stimuli between monolingual and bilingual participants. However, within-subject effects showed statistical significance between English and Spanish word stimuli among the bilingual group. Conclusions: These findings emphasize the importance of using language-specific diagnostic materials for nasalance testing, which would be of importance in the treatment of individuals with cleft palate.

An Initial Investigation of Phonological Patterns in Typically Developing 4-Year-Old Spanish-English Bilingual Children

2001 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Goldstein ◽  
Patricia Swasey Washington
Keyword(s):  
Collaborative Study ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Single Word ◽  
Phonological Processes ◽  
Old Spanish ◽  
Place Of Articulation ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Manner Of Articulation

Purpose: This collaborative study investigated phonological patterns in 12 typically developing 4-year-old bilingual (Spanish-English) children. Method: A single-word phonological assessment with separate versions for English and Spanish was administered to each child. Analyses consisted of a phonetic inventory; percentage of consonants correct; percentage of consonants correct for voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation; and the percentage of occurrence for phonological processes. Results: The results indicated that there were no significant differences between the two languages on percentage of consonants correct; percentage of consonants correct for voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation; or percentage of occurrence for phonological processes. However, the children exhibited different patterns of production across the two languages and showed different patterns compared to monolingual children of either language. Clinical Implications: The preliminary findings suggest that the phonological system of bilingual (Spanish-English) children is both similar to and different from that of monolingual speakers of either language. Compared to monolingual speakers, bilingual children should be expected to exhibit different types of errors and different substitution patterns for target sounds.

scholarly journals BILINGUAL CHILDREN’S PHONOLOGY SHOWS EVIDENCE OF TRANSFER, BUT NOT DECELERATION IN THEIR L1

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-114
Author(s):  
Marta Marecka ◽  
Magdalena Wrembel ◽  
Agnieszka Otwinowska ◽  
Jakub Szewczyk ◽  
Natalia Banasik-Jemielniak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Language Impairment ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Typically Developing ◽  
Phonological Acquisition ◽  
Vocabulary Size ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Bilingual Language Development ◽  
Children Speech

AbstractBilingual language development might be characterized by transfer, deceleration, and/or acceleration, the first two being relevant for the language impairment diagnosis. Studies on bilingual children’s productive phonology show evidence of transfer, but little is known about deceleration in this population. Here, we focused on phonological transfer and deceleration in L1 speech of typically developing Polish-English bilingual children of Polish migrants to the United Kingdom (aged 4.7–7). We analyzed L1 speech samples of 30 bilinguals and 2 groups of Polish monolinguals, matched to the bilinguals on age or vocabulary size. We found that bilingual children’ speech (both simultaneous and early sequential) was characterized by transfer, but not by deceleration, suggesting that while phonological deceleration phases out in children above the age of 4.7, transfer does not. We discuss our findings within the PRIMIR model of bilingual phonological acquisition (Curtin et al., 2011) and show their implications for SLT practices.

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