Slides from a lecture looking at language acquisition with a focus on the development of bilingualism.

1. Language
Acquisition
Bilingualism
CliveMcGoun
1

2. Bilingualism
• True or False?
• Learning more than one language confuses a child and lowers
his/her IQ?
• A child should learn one language properly before learning a
second one.
• A person cannot be a real bilingual if he learns a second
language late.
• Bilinguals have to translate from their weaker to their
stronger language.
• Learning two languages may cause cultural identity problems
for a child.
CliveMcGoun
2

3. Bilingualism
• Why do we study bilingualism?
• A large proportion of the world’s population knows and uses more than one
language on a regular basis. Multilingualism is the norm. More than 140
languages are spoken in Manchester. Language planning (social and
educational policy) is a political issue often based on academic research.
• Topics in bilingualism
• Who is bilingual? What is a native language?
• How does a child acquire two languages?
• How does bilingualism influence a human being’s intellectual and mental
growth?
• When and how should we learn a second language?
• Does a bilingual’s brain function differently from a monolingual’s brain?
• How and when do bilinguals switch from one language to the other?
CliveMcGoun
3

4. Bilingualism
• Approaches
• Linguistics – studies the structure and development of the two
languages
• Psycholinguistics – studies the psychological basis of
bilingual’s language competence and performance
• Sociolinguistics – looks at how cultures/social groups affect
language performance and language choice
• Neurolinguistics – studies the relationship between language
and the brain
CliveMcGoun
4

5. Definitions
• Individual bilingualism vs Societal bilingualism
• Bilingualism as an individual attribute: apsychological state of
an individual who has access to two language codes to serve
communication purposes.
• Bilingualism as a societal attribute: two languages are used in
a community and that a number of individuals can use two
languages.
• Should bilingualism be defined at an individual or a
societal level?
CliveMcGoun
5

6. Definitions
• 5 dimensions
• Cognitive organisation of two languages
• Age of acquisition
• Language proficiency
• Sequence of acquistion of two languages
• Societal factors
CliveMcGoun
6
Individual characteristics

7. Compound vs. Coordinate
Bilinguals
• Compound bilingual:
• Has one semantic system but two linguistic codes. Usually
refers to someone whose two languages are learnt at the
same time, often in the same context.
• Coordinate bilingual:
• Has two semantic systems and two linguistic codes. Usually
refers to someone whose two languages are learnt in
distinctively separate contexts
• Subordinate bilingual:
• The weaker language is interpreted through the stronger
language
CliveMcGoun
7

8. The mental lexicon of
monolinguals
Semantic
system
Has wings
Has feathers
Can fly
Language
code
Orange Apple Apple Bird
naranja mansana mansana pajaro
Clive McGoun 8

9. The mental lexicon of
bilinguals
CliveMcGoun
9
Semantic system Semantic
System 1
Semantic
System 2
English Spanish English Spanish
Compound bilingual Coordinate bilingual

10. The mental lexicon of
bilinguals
CliveMcGoun
10
Semantic system
English Spanish
Subordinate bilingual

11. The mental lexicon of
bilinguals
CliveMcGoun
11
Semantic
System 1
English Spanish
Semantic
System 2
English Spanish
Semantic
System 2
Semantic
System 1

12. The mental lexicon of
bilinguals
• Whether there are two or more systems depends on:
• Age of acquisition
• Learning/teaching method
• Similarities and differences between the two languages
CliveMcGoun
12

13. Early vs. Late bilinguals
• Early bilingual:
• someone who has acquired two languages
early in childhood (usually received systematic
training/learning of a second language before age 6).
• Late bilingual:
• someone who has become a bilingual later than childhood (after
age 12).
• Discussion: Is there a “critical period” for second language
learning?
CliveMcGoun
13

14. Early vs. Late bilinguals
CliveMcGoun
14
How do we determine the age of acquisition?

15. Balanced vs. Dominant
bilinguals
• Balanced bilingual:
• someone whose mastery of two languages is roughly equivalent.
• Dominant bilingual:
• someone with greater proficiency in one of his or her languages
and uses it significantly more than the other language.
• Semilingual:
• someone with insufficient knowledge of either language.
CliveMcGoun
15

16. Successive vs. Simultaneous
bilinguals
• Successive bilingualism:
• Learning one language after already knowing another. This is the situation
for all those who become bilingual as adults, as well as for many who
became bilingual earlier in life. Sometimes also called consecutive
bilingualism.
• Simultaneous bilingualism:
• Learning two languages as "first languages". That is, a person who is a
simultaneous bilingual goes from speaking no languages at all directly to
speaking two languages. Infants who are exposed to two languages from
birth will become simultaneous bilinguals.
• Receptive bilingualism:
• Being able to understand two languages but express oneself in only one. This
is generally not considered "true" bilingualism but is a fairly common
situation.
CliveMcGoun
16

17. Additive vs. Subtractive
bilinguals
• Additive bilingual:
• The learning of a second language does not interfere with the
learning of a first language. Both languages are well
developed.
• Subtractive bilingual:
• The learning a second language interferes with the learning of
a first language. The second language replaces the first
language.
• Additive or subtractive bilingualism is related to the
different status associated with the two languages in a
society.
CliveMcGoun
17

18. Elite vs. Folk bilinguals
• Elite bilingual:
• Individuals who choose to have a bilingual home, often in order
to enhance social status.
• Folk bilingual:
• Individuals who develop second language capacity under
circumstances that are not often of their own choosing, and in
conditions where the society does not value their native
language.
CliveMcGoun
18

19. Summary: Definitions
• Coordinate vs. Compound bilingualism
• Early vs. Late bilingualism
• Balanced vs. Dominant bilingualism
• Simultaneous vs. Successive bilingualism
• Additive vs. Subtractive bilingualism
• Elite vs. Folk bilingualism
CliveMcGoun
19

20. Language acquisition of
bilingual children
• Bilingual acquisition is a complex phenomenon.
• Monolingual children usually learn language from
parents. But bilingual children may learn languages not
only from parents but also from grandparents,
playmates, babysitters, childcare, school teachers and
TV.
• Their exposure to languages fluctuate over time and
situation/environment.
• Childhood bilingualism is poorly understood by many
and regarded with scepticism by others.
CliveMcGoun
20

21. Language acquisition of
bilingual children
• Compared to monolingual children, bilingual children
have less exposure to each of their languages and,
therefore, they never master either language fully and
never become as proficient as monolingual children.
• How do we measure language proficiency?
• How do we determine if bilingual children’s language
development is normal?
CliveMcGoun
21

22. Language acquisition of
bilingual children
• Compared to monolingual children, bilingual children
have less exposure to each of their languages and,
therefore, they never master either language fully and
never become as proficient as monolingual children.
• How do we measure language proficiency?
• How do we determine if bilingual children’s language
development is normal?
CliveMcGoun
22

23. Language acquisition of
bilingual children
• Young bilingual children may know fewer words in one
or both of their languages in comparison with
monolingual children of the same age.
• This is understandable because young children have
limited cognitive / memory capacities, and bilingual
children must store words from two languages, not just
one.
• Also, because bilingual children learn words in each
language from different people, they sometimes know
certain words in one language but not in the other.
CliveMcGoun
23

24. Language acquisition of
bilingual children
• When adding the vocabulary that bilingual children know
in both languages, they generally know the same
number of or even more words as their monolingual
peers.
• Even when differences like these occur, they are short
term and are likely to disappear by the time the children
begin school.
• Bilingual children's overall proficiency in each language
reflects the amount of time they spend in each.
CliveMcGoun
24

25. Will learning two languages
confuse children/
• Young bilingual children often mix the two languages
andcannot keep them separate.
• Language mixing is taken as evidence that learning two
languages confuses children.
• Mixing: a fusion of two languages with the inability to
differentiate one language from the other.
• Mixing happens most frequently during early phase of
language development, before or around age 2;0 (years;
months), whereas later on, bilingual children can easily
separate the two linguistic systems.
CliveMcGoun
25

26. Will learning two languages
confuse children
• Phonological mixing
• Kats – Katt (swedish) & Kass (Estonia)
• [both katt and kass mean ‘cat’ in English]
• Lexical mixing
• I want mansana
• [I want apple]
• Semantic mixing
• I lost the bus
• [lost = missed in Spanish]
• Syntactic mixing
• A house red
• [colour adjectives follow the noun in Spanish]
CliveMcGoun
26

27. Will learning two languages
confuse children
• Children mix because they are confused by learning two
languages? or,
• Because they lack the appropriate items in one language but
have them in the other language?
Unitary language system hypothesis
Vs.
Separate language system hypothesis
CliveMcGoun
27

28. Unitary language system
hypothesis
• A 3-stage model for early bilingual development
proposed by Volterra & Taeschner, 1978:
• I. the bilingual child has only one lexical system comprising
words from both languages [1.6-2.1]
• II. development of two distinct lexical systems although the
child applies “the same syntactic rules to both languages”
[2.5-3.3]
• III. differentiation of two linguistic systems, lexical as well as
syntactic [2.9-311]
CliveMcGoun
28

29. Unitary language system
hypothesis
• Bilingual children first have a single fused linguistic representation.
• They begin to differentiate their two native languages by age
• 3;0.
• Implication: Young bilinguals have language delay relative to monolinguals.
• Support for this hypothesis: Volterra & Taeschner (1978)
• Young bilinguals in the one-word stage acquire words mostly in one but
not both languages. e.g., if the word ` bird ' is acquired one language, it
is not acquired in the other language.
• This suggests that young bilinguals do not initially differentiate between
their two native vocabularies.
CliveMcGoun
29

30. Unitary language system
hypothesis
• Challenges to this hypothesis
• Bilingual children mix because they lack appropriate lexical
items in one language but have them in the other language.
Thus, they borrow vocabularies from the other language.
• Mixing declines as a child comes to recognize adult-imposed
standards of behaviour and shows awareness of his own
ability to meet them.
• Slobin (1972, 1973) argues that bilingual children mix because
of acquisitional strategies that are independent of language
CliveMcGoun
30

31. Separate language system
hypothesis
• Genesee F. (1989, Journal of Child Language) argued
that:
• “...contrary to most extant interpretations, bilingual
children develop differentiated language systems from
the beginning and are able to use their developing
languages in contextually sensitive ways. A call for
more serious attention to the possible role of parental
input in the form of mixed utterances is made.”
CliveMcGoun
31

32. Separate language system
hypothesis
• According to Genesee:
• “The most proficient bilinguals mix the most and in the most
sophisticated ways without violating the rules of either language.
It is normal for children growing up in these communities to mix
their languages extensively because they are simply learning the
patterns of communication that are common in their community.
It can be difficult and unnatural, if not impossible, to keep the
languages completely separate. If most people in the children's
wider community use only one language, the children will
eventual learn the monolingual patterns.”
CliveMcGoun
32

33. Separate language system
hypothesis
• The language mixing seen in bilingual children is constrained
by grammatical rules.
• Influenced by sociolinguistic factors such as language mixing
pattern of parents.
• Language mixing is not a consequence of confusion but
instead demonstrates the bilingual child's distinct
representations of the two languages from an early age.
CliveMcGoun
33

34. Project ideas
• Interview a group of polyglots and childhood bilinguals. Are
there experiences of interference between languages the
same or different?
• Use your findings to examine the unitary vs. separate
language system hypthesis.
CliveMcGoun
34

35. Project ideas
• Interview parents of children being brought up bilingually.
What kind of bilinguals are they?
• Compare your findings with the definitions offered in this
lecture/in the literature
CliveMcGoun
35

36. Project ideas
• Interview a group of international students at MMU.
Investigate their experiences of bilingualism with particular
reference to ‘mixing’ languages. Where, when, and what is the
significance of their ‘mixing’.
CliveMcGoun
36

37. Attack on ‘racist’ census of
bilingual students
• Teachers of bilingual pupils in Glasgow have claimed that a Scottish
Executive programme asking them to categorise youngsters according to
their fluency in English is "educationally nonsensical and institutionally
racist". EAL (English as an additional language) and bilingual support
teachers are concerned that the programme, which requires them to assess
bilingual pupils as being in one of five categories, will damage race equality.
The Glasgow local association of the Education Institute of Scotland is
calling on the union's national officers to intervene with the Scottish
Executive and to clarify with the Commission for Racial Equality whether the
initiative contravenes race relations laws. Around 9 % of Glasgow's school
population is bilingual - a mixture of Scots-born ethnic minorities, families
attached to universities and others who have come to the city as asylum-
seekers.
• (TES 9th
September 2005)
CliveMcGoun
37

38. Project ideas
• Interview a teacher of a heritage language in Manchester for
his/her views and experiences in the light of this quote.
CliveMcGoun
38

39. Reading
• Fromkin and Rodman An Introduction to Language pp 374-383
• The Bilingualism Reader London Routledge 2000 edited by Li
Wei
• Bilingualism [electronic resource] : beyond basic principles
edited by Jean-Marc Dewaele, Alex Housen, and Li Wei
Multilingual Matters, 2003
• http://www.ivanmoody.co.uk/bilingualism.htm
• http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Research/lostop3.html
CliveMcGoun
39