scholarly journals macrostructure of elicited narratives by bilingual children: an analysis of the factor age of onset

2019 ◽  
Vol 62 ◽  
pp. 7-31
Author(s):  
Kristin Haake
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Narrative Ability ◽  
Language Promotion ◽  
A Current ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Turkish German

In this paper, data from a current study on bilingual language acquisition and language promotion of children is presented. 96 narratives from 32 Turkish-German and Russian-German bilingual children were examined with regard to the acquisition of narrative ability in three rounds of tests. The macrostructure of each narrative was evaluated based on the theories of Westby (2005), Stein and Glenn (1977) and Gagarina et al. (2012). In the quantitative analysis, the factor age of onset (AoO) was considered and therefore, two hypotheses were introduced: 1) There is an influence of AoO on the narrative ability of L2 German bilingual children. And 2) The narrative ability will converge over time and after three years there will be no difference between the groups. Neither of those hypotheses could be confirmed by the examined narrative data. Hence, other influences on narrative ability were discussed in the last chapter and prospects for further research were given. In sum, the article shows that more narrative data of these children should be collected to make a comprehensive conclusion about the influence of AoO on narrative ability.  

Syntax–pragmatic and morphology–pragmatic interfaces in sequential bilingual language acquisition: The case of Russia-Turkish and English-Turkish bilingual children

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 1137-1158
Author(s):  
Elena Antonova-Ünlü
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
First Language ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Bilingual Language Development ◽  
Direct Objects ◽  
Cross Sectional Design ◽  
Case Markers

Aims: This study examines sequential bilingual language development focusing on the acquisition of two domains that interact with pragmatics, precisely, post-predicate constituents and case marking for direct objects in Turkish, which are cases of syntax–pragmatic and morphology–pragmatic interface, respectively, by Russian-Turkish and English-Turkish sequential bilinguals who had been acquiring Turkish as their child second language (cL2). Design: A cross-sectional design was adopted in the study. Methods: Narratives were used as a method of data collection. The use of post-predicate constituents and case markers for direct objects produced by the sequential bilinguals in their cL2 Turkish was compared with that of Turkish monolingual and simultaneous bilingual children. Conclusions: The study provides evidence that cL2 may be similar to monolingual and bilingual first language acquisition in some domains, while the other domains may be affected by age of onset and cross-linguistic influence from the other language that has developed to a certain extent.

Directionality in transfer?

1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-184
Author(s):  
SUZANNE SCHLYTER
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Specific Structure ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Current Topic ◽  
A Current

Natascha Müller discusses a question which in recent years – after a period of focus on cross-linguistic principles of language acquisition – has regained its position as a current topic, namely transfer, and here in bilingual children. One of her points is that for transfer to take place, the transferred construction must have some correspondence in the target language, a position similar to the “transfer to somewhere” principle often advocated in the L2 acquisition literature (cf. Gass & Selinker, 1983). The specific structure studied is the lack of Verb-End in the German of a bilingual German-French child.

The acquisition of determiners in child L2 German

2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 169-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuela Schönenberger
Keyword(s):  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Data Collection ◽  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Free Play ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
L2 Acquisition ◽  
Sensitive Phase ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
German Children ◽  
L1 Acquisition

Abstract The object of this study is to test Meisel’s (2009) hypothesis that there is a sensitive phase in language acquisition that ends around age 4. Early L2 acquisition may therefore already show differences from L1 acquisition. To test this hypothesis, determiner production in the naturalistic speech of four successive bilingual Turkish-German children recorded during free-play situations was compared to that of monolingual German children discussed in the literature. The successive bilinguals had an age of onset of German between 3 and 4 years and were studied over a period of 20 months. Determiner production was examined because Turkish, as opposed to German, does not have an article system. Determiner omission and incorrect article use were considered. A clear difference emerged in determiner omission, but not in article misuse. After some initial variability in determiner production, determiner omission by the monolingual children was found to gradually fall below 10 per cent, while a plateau effect could be observed in the bilingual children. There was no clear evidence for article misuse in either the L1 or the child L2 data. Our findings about determiner omission suggest that early L2 acquisition differs from L1 acquisition. It is unclear, however, whether the child L2 learners will persist in omitting determiners from obligatory contexts, since data collection was ended while the children were still in the process of acquiring German

scholarly journals Transfer Phenomena in Bilingual Language Acquisition: The Case of Caused-Motion Constructions

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Nikolas Koch ◽  
Katharina Günther
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Language Use ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Motion Constructions ◽  
Linguistic Phenomenon

Usage-based approaches suggest that children gradually build abstract syntactic patterns, called constructions, through processes of abstraction and schematization from the input they receive. Bilingual children have the challenge of learning two sets of non-equivalent constructions when they build their constructicon. This can result in deviations from monolinguals, which are commonly referred to as transfer. Targeting the expression of the caused-motion construction, the present study focuses on idiosyncratic utterances, those that do not correspond to monolingual adult language use, in three different age groups (4, 6, and 8 years old) of German–French bilingual children in comparison to monolingual control groups. The quantitative analysis showed that idiosyncrasies could be found in both groups, but with significantly higher rates in bilinguals at all ages. In a qualitative analysis, idiosyncratic utterances were clustered into three different types: syntactic patterns, use of verbs, and directional phrases. Regarding the analysis of these types, the influence of French could be shown. In order to classify this linguistic phenomenon in a usage-based approach, we propose to consider transfer as a form of overgeneralization within the bilingual constructicon.

Really transfer?

1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
NATASCHA MÜLLER
Keyword(s):  
Longitudinal Study ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Subordinate Clauses ◽  
Simultaneous Acquisition ◽  
Diary Studies ◽  
Quantitative Results ◽  
Exact Quantification

From the beginning of this century fascinating work has been carried out on the simultaneous acquisition of two languages from birth in the form of diary studies for example, that by Ronjat (1913). Many aspects of monolingual language acquisition have been studied in the same way, whereby researchers generally observed their own children, for example, Stern and Stern (1928). The modern research strategy is to audiotape or videotape the speech of young children at fixed intervals. Of course, a quantitative analysis can be carried out for both diary studies and more recent types of longitudinal study. However, researchers such as Ronjat (1913) do not provide us with exact quantitative results. Notwithstanding, these studies deserve to be taken seriously and I think it is possible to interpret some of the observations they contain as good and “reliable” evidence and compare these with results from modern longitudinal studies, where exact quantification is an important issue. I therefore think that the quantitative results of my review of existing studies on the acquisition of German subordinate clauses in bilingual children can be taken seriously, although I agree with François Grosjean and Elizabeth Lanza, who object that the quantitative differences between monolingual and bilingual children's errors are perhaps artefacts of the setting in which the children have been recorded. That I considered diary studies as well disappointed one commentator, Annick De Houwer, who would have preferred a comparison of modern studies only.

Parameters or cues?

2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
BRIAN MACWHINNEY
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Hebbian Learning ◽  
Universal Grammar ◽  
Back Propagation ◽  
Parameter Setting ◽  
Functional Categories ◽  
The Core ◽  
Over Time

Truscott and Sharwood Smith (henceforth T&SS) attempt to show how second language acquisition can occur without any learning. In their APT model, change depends only on the tuning of innate principles through the normal course of processing of L2. There are some features of their model that I find attractive. Specifically, their acceptance of the concepts of competition and activation strength brings them in line with standard processing accounts like the Competition Model (Bates and MacWhinney, 1982; MacWhinney, 1987, in press). At the same time, their reliance on parameters as the core constructs guiding learning leaves this model squarely within the framework of Chomsky's theory of Principles and Parameters (P&P). As such, it stipulates that the specific functional categories of Universal Grammar serve as the fundamental guide to both first and second language acquisition. Like other accounts in the P&P framework, this model attempts to view second language acquisition as involving no real learning beyond the deductive process of parameter-setting based on the detection of certain triggers. The specific innovation of the APT model is that changes in activation strength during processing function as the trigger to the setting of parameters. Unlike other P&P models, APT does not set parameters in an absolute fashion, allowing their activation weight to change by the processing of new input over time. The use of the concept of activation in APT is far more restricted than its use in connectionist models that allow for Hebbian learning, self-organizing features maps, or back-propagation.

scholarly journals “Which mouse kissed the frog?” Effects of age of onset, length of exposure, and knowledge of case marking on the comprehension of wh-questions in German-speaking simultaneous and early sequential bilingual children

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 635-661 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNE DOROTHEE ROESCH ◽  
VASILIKI CHONDROGIANNI
Keyword(s):  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Language Abilities ◽  
Error Patterns ◽  
Case Marking ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Wh Questions ◽  
German Speaking

AbstractStudies examining age of onset (AoO) effects in childhood bilingualism have provided mixed results as to whether early sequential bilingual children (eL2) differ from simultaneous bilingual children (2L1) and L2 children on the acquisition of morphosyntax. Differences between the three groups have been attributed to other factors such as length of exposure (LoE), language abilities, and the phenomenon to be acquired. The present study investigates whether four- to five-year-old German-speaking eL2 children differ from 2L1 children on the acquisition of wh-questions, and whether these differences can be explained by AoO, LoE, and/or knowledge of case marking. The 2L1 children outperformed the eL2 children in terms of accuracy; however, both bilingual groups exhibited similar error patterns. This suggests that 2L1 and eL2 bilingual children are sensitive to the same morphosyntactic cues, when comprehending wh-questions. Finally, children's performance on the different types of wh-questions was explained by a combination of knowledge of case marking, LoE, and AoO.

On the State of Genre/Form Vocabulary: A Quantitative Analysis of LCGFT Data in WorldCat

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Colin Bitter ◽  
Yuji Tosaka
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Detailed Analysis ◽  
The State ◽  
Bibliographic Databases ◽  
Moderate Increase ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Library Of Congress ◽  
Bibliographic Data ◽  
Innovative Solutions ◽  
Over Time

The purpose of this paper is to report on a quantitative analysis of the LCGFT vocabulary within a large set of MARC bibliographic data retrieved from the OCLC WorldCat database. The study aimed to provide a detailed analysis of the outcomes of the LCGFT project, which was launched by the Library of Congress (LC) in 2007. Findings point to a moderate increase in LCGFT use over time; however, the vocabulary has not been applied to the fullest extent possible in WorldCat. Further, adoption has been inconsistent between the various LCGFT disciplines. These and other findings discussed here suggest that retrospective application of the vocabulary using automated means should be investigated by catalogers and other technical services librarians. Indeed, as the data used for the analysis show somewhat uneven application of LCGFT, and with nearly half a billion records in WorldCat, it remains a certainty that much of LCGFT’s full potentials for genre/form access and retrieval will remain untapped until innovative solutions are introduced to further increase overall vocabulary usage in bibliographic databases.

Exploration of an Electroactive Polymer as an Actuator for Microrobotics

2003 ◽  
Vol 785 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Bielmeier ◽  
W. Walter
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Power Consumption ◽  
Parallel Plate ◽  
Electroactive Polymers ◽  
Electroactive Polymer ◽  
Low Power Consumption ◽  
Parallel Plate Capacitor ◽  
Steady State Current ◽  
A Current ◽  
Over Time

ABSTRACTThe development of lightweight low power consumption actuators is critical to the development of micro-robotics. Electroactive Polymers (EAP), i.e. Nafion N-117, meet these requirements. In the actuation of an EAP, the current does not remain constant over time. The development of a circuit model of current draw over time to best predict a current dynamic has been explored. While the material mimics a parallel plate capacitor, it has been found that capacitance plays no role in achieving steady state current levels. This development is critical to understanding and developing the material as an actuator.

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