scholarly journals Priming of Frames and Slots in Bilingual Children’s Code-Mixing: A Usage-Based Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Endesfelder Quick ◽  
Dorota Gaskins ◽  
Maria Frick
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
Direct Input

This article investigates the role of direct input in the code-mixing of three bilingual children aged 2–4 years acquiring English as one language, and either German, Polish, or Finnish as the other. From a usage-based perspective, it is assumed that early children’s utterances are item-based and that they contain many lexically fixed patterns. To account for such patterns, the traceback method has been developed to test the hypothesis that children’s utterances are constructed on the basis of a limited inventory of chunks and frame-and-slot patterns. We apply this method to the code-mixed utterances, suggesting that much of the code-mixing occurs within frame-and-slot patterns, such as Was ist X? as in Was ist breakfast muesli? “What is breakfast muesli?” We further analyzed each code-mixed utterance in terms of priming. Our findings suggest that much of the early code-mixing is based on concrete lexically fixed patterns which are subject to input occurring in immediately prior speech, either the child’s own or that of her caregivers.

scholarly journals The Building Blocks of Child Bilingual Code-Mixing: A Cross-Corpus Traceback Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Endesfelder Quick ◽  
Stefan Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Lexical Knowledge ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Individual Input

This paper offers an inductive, exploratory study on the role of input and individual differences in the early code-mixing of bilingual children. Drawing on data from two German-English bilingual children, aged 2–4, we use the traceback method to check whether their code-mixed utterances can be accounted for with the help of constructional patterns that can be found in their monolingual data and/or in their caregivers' input. In addition, we apply the traceback method to check whether the patterns used by one child can also be found in the input of the other child. Results show that patterns found in the code-mixed utterances could be traced back to the input the children receive, suggesting that children extract lexical knowledge from their environment. Additionally, tracing back patterns within each child was more successful than tracing back to the other child's corpus, indicating that each child has their own set of patterns which depends very much on their individual input. As such, these findings can shed new light on the interplay of the two developing grammars in bilingual children and their individual differences.

scholarly journals Early lexical composition of Turkish-Dutch bilinguals: Nouns before verbs or verbs before nouns

2016 ◽  
Vol 52 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatma Hülya Özcan ◽  
Feyza Altinkamiş ◽  
Steven Gillis
Keyword(s):  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Lexical Development ◽  
Language And Gender ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Lexical Composition ◽  
Fundamental Categories ◽  
Verb Categories

AbstractNouns and verbs are considered as fundamental categories of lexical development, and there are contradicting views on the order of the acquisition. One view claims that nouns are acquired earlier than verbs and this primacy of nouns can be attributed to perceptual-conceptual constraints from a linguistic point of view, on the other hand, nouns and verbs are the lexical units which categorically highlight language-general and language-specific characteristics. These language-specific characteristics have motivated this research because of the different typological characteristics between Turkish and Dutch in terms of nouns and verbs. The aim of this study is two-fold: to investigate the Dutch and Turkish lexicon of Turkish-Dutch bilingual children with respect to noun-verb categories and to consider the role of gender. Our sample comprised 55 Turkish-Dutch bilingual children aged between 9 and 36 months. We found that age, language and gender are at play during early lexical development. Vocabulary develops after 12 months and nouns are prioritized over verbs both in comprehension and production.

scholarly journals Grammatical gender in bilingual Norwegian–Russian acquisition: The role of input and transparency

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
YULIA RODINA ◽  
MARIT WESTERGAARD
Keyword(s):  
Age Of Onset ◽  
Grammatical Gender ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Early Age ◽  
Experimental Production ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Production Study ◽  
Parental Input

This paper investigates the role of parental input and transparency in the acquisition of two different gender systems, Norwegian and Russian, by bilingual children living in Norway. While gender in Russian is generally predictable from the morphophonological shape of the noun (with some exceptions), gender assignment in Norwegian is opaque. An experimental production study was carried out with two groups of bilinguals, children with one or two Russian-speaking parents, and monolingual controls (age 4;1–7;11). The findings show that both groups of bilinguals perform similarly to monolinguals in Norwegian, the majority language, despite the lack of transparency. In Russian, on the other hand, not only quantitative, but also qualitative differences are found in the data of the bilingual children with the least exposure to the language. These qualitative differences indicate that early age of onset is not sufficient to acquire phenomena such as gender; extensive input is necessary.

Early emergence of structural constraints on code-mixing: evidence from French–English bilingual children

2000 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanne Paradis ◽  
Elena Nicoladis ◽  
Fred Genesee
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Structural Constraints ◽  
Frame Model ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Early Emergence ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
French And English ◽  
Over Time

Does young bilingual children's code-mixing obey the same structural constraints as bilingual adults' code-mixing? The present study addresses this question using code-mixing data from 15 French–English bilingual children filmed in conversation with both parents at six-month intervals from the age of 2;0 to 3;6. The children's code-mixed utterances were examined for violations of the principles set out in the Matrix-Language Frame model (e.g. Myers-Scotton, 1993, 1997). The results show that the children obeyed all the constraints set out in the Matrix Language Frame model the majority of the time. With respect to the Morpheme Order Principle and to the interaction of Congruence and Matrix Language Blocking, they demonstrated consistent adherence with only marginal violations from the outset. In contrast, the children produced comparatively more frequent violations of the System Morpheme Principle and showed increasing adherence to this principle over time. We discuss possible explanations for the contrast between the children's performance on the System Morpheme Principle and the other constraints, which include the unequal emergence of INFL in the acquisition of French and English.

scholarly journals Growing syntactic structure and code-mixing in the weaker language: The Ivy Hypothesis

2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETRA BERNARDINI ◽  
SUZANNE SCHLYTER
Keyword(s):  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Uneven Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Specific Kind ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
First Languages ◽  
Mixing Patterns ◽  
Lexical Learning ◽  
Italian Children

We present a hypothesis for a specific kind of code-mixing in young bilingual children, during the development of their two first languages, one of which is considerably weaker than the other. Our hypothesis, which we label the Ivy Hypothesis, is that, in the interaction meant to be in the weaker language, the child uses portions of higher syntactic structure lexically instantiated in the stronger language combined with lower portions in the weaker language. Code-mixing patterns were studied in five Swedish-French/Italian children aged 2–4. The parts of the code-mixed utterances reflected as much syntactic structure of each language as was used in monolingual utterances in the same recording of each child. This uneven development, which is due to different amounts of input of the two languages, can be accounted for by assuming that syntactic structure is acquired by building each language from the bottom up through lexical learning.

scholarly journals Pronominal objects in English–Italian and Spanish–Italian bilingual children

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 725-751 ◽  
Author(s):  
LUDOVICA SERRATRICE ◽  
ANTONELLA SORACE ◽  
FRANCESCA FILIACI ◽  
MICHELA BALDO
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Multifaceted Approach ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
Linguistic Behavior ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Italian Children ◽  
Object Pronouns

ABSTRACTThis study investigated the role of typological relatedness, language of the community, and age, in predicting similarities and differences between English–Italian, Spanish–Italian bilingual children and their monolingual child and adult counterparts in the acceptability of pre- and postverbal object pronouns in [±focus] contexts in Italian and in English. Cross-linguistic influence occurred in [−focus] contexts as a function of typological relatedness and language of the community. English–Italian bilinguals in the UK accepted pragmatically inappropriate postverbal pronouns in [−focus] contexts in Italian twice as often as all the other groups. Cross-linguistic influence was unidirectional from English to Italian as shown by the categorical rejection of preverbal pronouns in [−focus] contexts in English. In [+focus] contexts, in English no significant differences existed between the monolinguals and the bilinguals in the low accuracy with which they chose pragmatically appropriate stressed pronouns. Similarly, the choice of appropriate pronouns in [+focus] contexts in Italian was problematic for monolingual and bilingual children irrespective of the language of the community and of the bilinguals’ other language. Age was a factor only for the Italian children who approached adultlike performance in [+focus] contexts only by the age of 10. These findings point to the need for a multifaceted approach to account for similarities and differences between the linguistic behavior of bilingual and monolingual children.

Entrenchment effects in code-mixing: individual differences in German-English bilingual children

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Endesfelder Quick ◽  
Ad Backus ◽  
Elena Lieven
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
First Language ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Theory Of Language

Abstract Following a usage-based approach to language acquisition, lexically specific patterns are considered to be important building blocks for language productivity and feature heavily both in child-directed speech and in the early speech of children (Arnon, Inbal & Morten H. Christiansen. 2017. The role of multiword building blocks in explaining L1-L2 differences. Topics in Cognitive Science 9(3). 621–636; Tomasello, Michael. 2003. Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition. Cambridge: Harvard University Press). In order to account for patterns, the traceback method has been widely applied in research on first language acquisition to test the hypothesis that children’s utterances can be accounted for on the basis of a limited inventory of chunks and partially schematic units (Lieven, Elena, Dorothé Salomo & Michael Tomasello. 2009. Two-year-old children’s production of multiword utterances: A usage-based analysis. Cognitive Linguistics 20(3). 481–508). In the current study, we applied the method to code-mixed utterances (n = 1,506) of three German-English bilingual children between 2 and 4 years of age to investigate individual differences in each child’s own inventory of patterns in relation to their input settings. It was shown that units such as I see X as in I see a Kelle ‘I see a trowel’ could be traced back to the child’s own previous productions. More importantly, we see that each child’s inventory of constructions draws heavily on multiword chunks that are strongly dependent on the children’s language input situations.

Bilingualism and its effect on children learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-42
Author(s):  
Abdul Wakil Rashid
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Family Members ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Third Language ◽  
High Intelligence

Bilingual mean that we should be able to speak in two languages. The discussion of bilingual is the very important matter today, lots of studies and viewpoints have done on this issue; because there are many kids in the same time, they speak in two languages, they learn one language as their mother language and the second language they could learn from their other family members or sometimes even they learn third language in the area where they live and grow up. Children can learn the language since their born till they enter to the society or in the educational areas like; preschool, schools and so on. They can also learn language naturally or learn it official. In different countries lots of studies have done on bilingual and results of those investigations show that the children who are bilingual have high intelligence, and speaking in two languages causes children grants a lot of potential thinking, the child grows smarter and more talented; but despite in Afghanistan more children are bilingual, less research has done on this issue. The aim of this review was to evaluate the role of bilingualism on learning of bilingual children. The results of this study indicated that children who are bilingual have high intelligence and speaking in two languages makes children keener their potential thinking, and this kind of children are more talented and able than the other children who are monolingual. As much children start speaking in two languages since their born, their brains' actions grow more.

scholarly journals The development of gender assignment and agreement in English-Greek and German-Greek bilingual children

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Kaltsa ◽  
Ianthi Maria Tsimpli ◽  
Froso Argyri
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Maternal Education ◽  
School Setting ◽  
Vocabulary Knowledge ◽  
The Other ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Gender Agreement ◽  
Gender Assignment ◽  
Crosslinguistic Influence

Abstract The aim of this experimental study is to examine the development of Greek gender in bilingual English-Greek and German-Greek children. Four gender production tasks were designed, two targeting gender assignment eliciting determiners and two targeting gender agreement eliciting predicate adjectives for real and novel nouns. Participant performance was assessed in relation to whether the ‘other’ language was a gender language or not (English vs. German) along with the role of the bilinguals’ Greek vocabulary knowledge and language input. The results are argued to contribute significantly to disentangling the role of crosslinguistic influence in gender assignment and agreement by bringing together a variety of input measures such as early and current amount of exposure to Greek, the role of area of residence (i.e. whether Greek is the minority or the majority language), the effect of maternal education and the amount of exposure to Greek in a school setting.

Entrenchment and productivity: The role of input in the code-mixing of a German-English bilingual child

2019 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antje Endesfelder Quick ◽  
Stefan Hartmann ◽  
Ad Backus ◽  
Elena Lieven
Keyword(s):  
Language Production ◽  
Bilingual Children ◽  
Early Language ◽  
Bilingual Child ◽  
Code Mixing ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Multiword Units ◽  
Parental Input ◽  
Selection Of

AbstractThis 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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