Linked Life Data

8789516

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/8789516

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
3
pubmed:dateCreated
1996-10-17
pubmed:abstractText
It has been claimed that children simultaneously acquiring two languages go through an initial stage when they are unable to differentiate between their two languages. Such claims have been based on the observation that at times virtually all bilingual children mix elements (e.g. lexical, morphological) from their two languages in the same utterance. That most, if not all, children acquiring two languages simultaneously mix linguistic elements in this way is widely documented. Although such code-mixing is not well understood or explained, there are a number of explanations unrelated to lack of language differentiation that may explain it. Moreover, while language differentiation is widely attested among bilingual children once functional categories emerge, usually during the third year, there is still some question as to how early in development differentiation is present. In this study, we examined language differentiation in five bilingual children prior to the emergence of functional categories (they ranged in age from 1;10 to 2;2 and in MLU from 1.23 to 2.08). They were observed with each parent separately and both together, on separate occasions. Our results indicate that while these children did code mix, they were clearly able to differentiate between their two languages. We also examine the possibility that the children's mixing is due to (a) their language dominance, and (b) their parents' rate of mixing. We could find no evidence that their mixing was due to parental input, but there was some evidence that language dominance played a role.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
C
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Oct
pubmed:issn
0305-0009
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
22
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
611-31
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1995
pubmed:articleTitle
Language differentiation in early bilingual development.
pubmed:affiliation
Psychology Department, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. genesee@ego.psych.mcgill.ca
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Comparative Study, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't