scholarly journals “¿Cómo estas?” “I’m good.” Conversational code-switching is related to profiles of expressive and receptive proficiency in Spanish-English bilingual toddlers

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 333-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krystal M. Ribot ◽  
Erika Hoff
Keyword(s):  
Dual Language ◽  
Receptive Language ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Language Choices ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Switching Patterns ◽  
Who Code ◽  
The U.S

Relations between bilingual children’s patterns of conversational code-switching (responding to one language with another), the balance of their dual language input, and their expressive and receptive proficiency in two languages were examined in 115 2½-year-old simultaneous Spanish-English bilinguals in the U.S. Children were more likely to code-switch in response to Spanish than English. Children’s expressive vocabulary scores were higher in English than in Spanish, while their English and Spanish receptive language scores were not different. Analyses of subgroups of children with different but consistent patterns of code-switching confirmed that children who code-switched to English showed greater English skills, specifically in the expressive domain. Children who did not code-switch were more balanced bilinguals in both expressive and receptive skills. Children with other code-switching patterns showed still different profiles of dual language expressive and receptive proficiency. These findings reveal that some, but not all, bilingual children show different profiles of expressive and receptive skill in their two languages and that these proficiency profiles are related to their language choices in conversation.

Conceptual distance and word learning: Patterns of acquisition in Samoan–English bilingual children

2012 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 799-820 ◽  
Author(s):  
GAYLE HEMSLEY ◽  
ALISON HOLM ◽  
BARBARA DODD
Keyword(s):  
Word Type ◽  
Lexical Acquisition ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Conceptual Representation ◽  
Expressive Vocabulary ◽  
Learning Patterns ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Conceptual Shift ◽  
L1 And L2

ABSTRACTThis study investigated cross-linguistic influence in acquisition of a second lexicon, evaluating Samoan–English sequentially bilingual children (initial mean age 4 ; 9) during their first 18 months of school. Receptive and Expressive Vocabulary tasks evaluated acquisition of four word types: cognates, matched nouns, phrasal nouns and holonyms. Each word type had varying phonological and conceptual difference between Samoan (L1) and English (L2). Results highlighted conceptual distance between L1 and L2 as a key factor in L2 lexical acquisition. The children acquired L2 lexical items earlier if their conceptual representation was similar to that of L1. Words with greater conceptual distance between L1 and L2 emerged more slowly. This suggests that L1 knowledge influences L2 lexical consolidation for sequential bilinguals. Words that require a conceptual shift from L1 take longer to consolidate and strengthen within the L2 lexicon.

Influences of language input and production on the language skills of Persian-English bilingual immersion preschool children

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-106
Author(s):  
Bita Payesteh ◽  
Lizbeth H. Finestack
Keyword(s):  
Preschool Children ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Heritage Language ◽  
Language Skills ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Language Input ◽  
Old Persian ◽  
The U.S

Abstract The purpose of this study was to better understand bilingualism in Persian-English preschool-aged children, and how their language performance across two domains of language related to their language production and parental language input. Participants were 15, 2- through 5-year old Persian-English bilingual children attending a Persian immersion preschool in the U.S. The participants completed a battery of language tasks in English and Persian and participants’ parents provided language input and production information. Data indicate that greater input in the heritage language outside school, Persian, will likely lead to better Persian skills, while greater English input may negatively affect the children’s Persian skills. Participants received consistent native-level Persian input in school, yet the results suggest that Persian as a heritage language in the U.S. may be susceptible to the same vulnerability that affects other non-mainstream languages.

Inter-sentential Code-switching and Language Dominance in Cantonese–English Bilingual Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 73-105
Author(s):  
Chit Fung Lam ◽  
Stephen Matthews
Keyword(s):  
Code Switching ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Dominant Language ◽  
Language Dominance ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Hong Kong Cantonese ◽  
Measurement Variance ◽  
Language Context ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Gradient Measurement

This paper examines the relationship between language dominance and the under-investigated topic of inter-sentential code-switching in Hong Kong Cantonese–English bilingual children. Longitudinal data for six children showing different dominance patterns were analysed. MLU differentials (Yip & Matthews, 2006) were adopted to measure dominance based on five criteria: methodological compatibility, typological comparability, gradient measurement, variance validity, and multifaceted compatibility. Our results showed that bilingual children produced more inter-sentential code-switching in the context of their non-dominant language and less in their dominant-language context. We account for this asymmetry in relation to mechanisms of inhibitory control (Gross & Kaushanskaya, 2015). Further, we propose that intrasentential and inter-sentential code-switching each have a different status in bilingual children’s developing grammar, underlining the methodological importance of separating the two constructs in future investigations. We also suggest that, in societies where intra-sentential code-switching is a social norm, inter-sentential code-switching could serve as signs of early bilinguals’ dominance status.

The acquisition of Spanish and English as two first languages through the analysis of natural interpreting in bilingual children

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 142-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Fernández Fuertes ◽  
Esther Álvarez de la Fuente
Keyword(s):  
Language Contact ◽  
Code Switching ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Simultaneous Processing ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
First Languages ◽  
Bilingual Corpora ◽  
The Way

Abstract Research on the acquisition of two first languages from birth (2L1A) has focused, among other issues, on how the grammars of the two languages being acquired interact (e.g. Bhatia & Ritchie, 2012; De Houwer, 2009; Deuchar & Quay, 2000; Döpke, 2000; Köppe & Meisel, 1995). A case in point is natural interpreting which evidences how bilingual children exposed to two languages from birth deal with the grammatical properties of the two languages and how this leads them to potentially convey the same message in either (or both) of these languages. More specifically, as part of the simultaneous processing of their two L1s, 2L1 bilingual children have been reported to often translate between their two L1s (Álvarez de la Fuente & Fernández Fuertes, 2012, 2015; Cossato, 2008; Harris, 1980a, 1980b; Harris & Sherwood, 1978), a phenomenon that has been called natural interpreting (Harris, 1977, 2003). In this respect, natural interpreting can be included with other language contact phenomena, such as interlinguistic influence or code-switching, as a typical defining property of 2L1A. Therefore, in this study we aim to offer an analysis of the way in which Spanish-English bilingual children use natural interpreting in their 2L1A process by focusing on the Spanish-English bilingual corpora freely available through the CHILDES project (MacWhinney, 2000).

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