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We investigate how Alor Malay–Abui child bilinguals, a non-WEIRD and underrepresented population in the field, comprehend and produce reflexive and non-reflexive possessive constructions in Abui. Their profiles of language development are explored through functionalist accounts that highlight the close connection between language and domain-general learning capacities, with special emphasis on three models: Competition Model, usage-based approach, and processing determinism.A total of 17 children (experimental group) and 17 adults (comparison group) complete a forced-choice sentence comprehension task (where they listen to two sentences following a short video prompt and verbally select the sentence that best describes the clip) and an elicited production task (where they watch a series of video clips and describe what is happening in each clip in a semi-spontaneous way).This study employs mixed-effects modelling for data analysis. The global model per experiment includes Condition (reflexive; non-reflexive) and Group (child; adult) as fixed effects and Participant and Item as random effects, with the maximal random-effects structure allowed by the model.Results show asymmetric performance by bilingual children on the two construction types across both experiments. Our findings provide insight into the developing processor in bilingual children, influenced by various factors such as usage frequency, cognitive skills, and task effects, within the functionalist framework.The findings of this study align with functionalist accounts for language development, illuminating the intricate deployment of linguistic knowledge in the minds of bilingual children interfacing with language-usage experience and domain-general factors. By combining the three models of functionalism, our findings are more properly understood, highlighting their complementary nature in addressing developmental trajectories of linguistic knowledge for child bilinguals. Importantly, our study shifts our attention to a unique bilingual context that has not been explored – lesser-studied languages and learning environments, contributing to offsetting the sampling bias persistent in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and Research Questions: Codeswitching (CS) was investigated among English-Hebrew bilingual preschool children in a sentence repetition task focusing on switching at different points in prepositional phrases (PPs). We asked the extent to which sentence repetition accuracy differed (1) as a function of the switch site in the PP and (2) as a function of directionality, English-to-Hebrew versus Hebrew-to-English CS. Design/Methodology: English/first language (L1)-Hebrew/second language (L2), sequential bilingual children (N = 65), ages 5;5–6;5, participated. Thirty-six English and 36 Hebrew stimulus sentences were matched for semantic content and syntax. English stimulus sentences contained switches to Hebrew; Hebrew stimuli contained switches to English. Six 'switch' conditions were examined: a single codeswitched noun (N), a determiner–noun switch (DET+N), a codeswitched preposition (P), a preposition–determiner switch (P+DET), a switch of the entire PP (P+DET+N), and a no-switch condition. Data and Analysis: Audio recordings were transcribed and coded. Full sentence repetition was coded as correct/incorrect. The number of errors and the proportion of CS errors were computed. A 6 × 2 repeated-measures analysis of variance examined the effects of switch site within the PP and directionality (L1-to-L2 versus L2-to-L1). Findings/Conclusions: Accuracy was highest for the non-switched, N, and P+DET+N conditions. Accuracy was lowest for DET+N switches in English sentences, and for P switches in Hebrew sentences, and these two conditions showed the highest proportion of CS errors. The findings show evidence for a hierarchy of processing costs and directionality differences, which are interpreted in terms of contrastive typological features, particularly definiteness marking in the two languages, English by a free morpheme, and Hebrew by a bound clitic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This study examines the characteristics of the child heritage language during the period of its relative dominance in early sequential bilinguals. Our objectives are twofold: to compare lexical accuracy and access in heritage and monolingual speakers across the primary school years, and to examine whether the results point to any early shifts in the heritage language strength. Design/methodology/approach: The participants are 38 Polish–English early sequential bilinguals and 24 Polish monolinguals aged 4;7–13;2, divided into four age groups. We use a new psycholinguistic tool, the Child HALA, to measure shifts in language strength by comparing lexical accuracy and access between the heritage and monolingual Polish. This picture-naming test is based on the HALA tool. Data and analysis: The data consists of accuracy and response time scores. The results are compared between the age groups and between the heritage and monolingual speakers to document any changes as a function of age and type of acquisition. Findings/conclusions: The heritage speakers achieve similar accuracy scores as the monolinguals; however, their rate of acquisition is slower. Their response time scores are lower across all age spans, which points to a slower language access. The results may suggest that the heritage language displays early shifts in its strength before a switch to a more dominant L2 between the mean age of 8–11;5. Originality: We document early changes in the heritage language strength that occur during a period of its relative dominance in bilingual children. The study employs a new psycholinguistic test applicable in the assessments of language maintenance in children. Significance/implications: The study provides insights into the heritage language maintenance during the early years of exposure to the majority language. The results may offer a greater understanding of the characteristics of the heritage language development in bilingual children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined how bilingualism in an atonal language, in addition to a tonal language, influences lexical and non-lexical tone perception and word learning during childhood. Forty children aged 5;3–7;2, bilingual either in English and Mandarin or English and another atonal language, were tested on Mandarin lexical tone discrimination, level-pitch sine-wave tone discrimination, and learning of novel words differing minimally in Mandarin lexical tone. Mandarin–English bilingual children discriminated between and learned novel words differing minimally in Mandarin lexical tone more accurately than their atonal–English bilingual peers. However, Mandarin–English and atonal–English bilingual children discriminated between level-pitch sine-wave tones with similar accuracy. Moreover, atonal–English bilingual children showed a tendency to perceive differing Mandarin lexical and level-pitch sine-wave tones as identical, whereas their Mandarin–English peers showed no such tendency. These results indicate that bilingualism in a tonal language in addition to an atonal language—but not bilingualism in two atonal languages—allows for continued sensitivity to lexical tone beyond infancy. Moreover, they suggest that although tonal–atonal bilingualism does not enhance sensitivity to differences in pitch between sine-wave tones beyond infancy any more effectively than atonal–atonal bilingualism, it protects against the development of biases to perceive differing lexical and non-lexical tones as identical. Together, the results indicate that, beyond infancy, tonal–atonal bilinguals process lexical tones using different cognitive mechanisms than atonal–atonal bilinguals, but that both groups process level-pitch non-lexical tone using the same cognitive mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various studies have shown that bilingual children score lower than their monolingual peers on standardized receptive vocabulary tests. This study investigates if this effect is moderated by language distance. Dutch receptive vocabulary was tested with the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). The impact of cross-language distance was examined by comparing bilingual groups with a small (Close; n = 165) and a large between-language distance (Distant; n = 108) with monolingual controls (n = 39). As a group, the bilinguals scored lower on Dutch receptive vocabulary than the monolinguals. The bilingual Distant group had lower receptive vocabulary outcomes than the bilingual Close and monolingual groups. No difference emerged between the monolinguals and the bilingual Close group. It can be concluded that bilingual children whose languages provide ample opportunities for transfer and sharing knowledge do not have any receptive vocabulary delays. The findings underscore that bilingual children cannot be treated as a homogeneous group and are important for determining which bilingual children are at risk of low vocabulary outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: Differences in directionality, motivations and locus of codeswitching have been reported for children's codeswitching, but these constructs have not been subjected to experimental study in order to examine how they may interact. This study investigated these variables in bilingual preschool children's codeswitching. Methodology: Thirty-two Russian-Hebrew bilingual children (mean age 6;3) performed two tasks: Retelling of narratives manipulated for setting/topic and listener and Conversation with a bilingual adult. Retelling conditions included a Russian story retold to a Hebrew-speaking puppet, a Hebrew story retold to a Russian speaking puppet and a Mixed language story retold to a bilingual puppet. The Conversation task involved responses to questions in Russian, Hebrew and codeswitched speech about holidays and activities at home and in preschool. Data and Analysis: All children's speech was audio recorded and transcribed using CHILDES conventions for data transcription. Codeswitched utterances were coded for the following: Directionality (Hebrew-to-Russian/Russian-to-Hebrew); Motivation (psycholinguistic/sociopragmatic); and Locus (intra-utterance/cross-speaker). Results: Overall children produced more codeswitching from Russian to Hebrew and did so more for psycholinguistic motivations (to maintain fluency or to overcome difficulties in lexical access). Originality: High rates of codeswitching occurred in this study, ranging from 15% to 22% for Conversation and Retelling, respectively (calculated as codeswitched instances per utterance). This high rate may be attributed to the experimental nature of the tasks, which intended to elicit codeswitching in children's speech. Significance: Drawing from Green and Wei's processing model, findings regarding directionality and motivation are discussed in terms of connectivity and activation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The main research question we seek to answer in the present study is: “What effect does reduced input in the non-dominant and dispreferred language have on the acquisition of Russian gender morphology by a bilingual Turkish–Russian child: Is it still sufficient for its monolingual-like development or can it cause incomplete acquisition of Russian gender morphology, at least, in some domains?” Design/methodology/approach: This study is a longitudinal case study. Data and analysis: The main source of data collection is video and audio recordings. Twenty-five recordings are available. They cover the period of between two years and 11 months (2;11) and 4;0. The data are examined in terms of the availability of masculine, feminine and neuter form-related genders, as well as availability of feminine and masculine semantic-related genders of nouns and pronouns in the first-, second- and third-person contexts. We look into whether the data of the bilingual child is marked with deviations from monolingual Russian data and/or incomplete acquisition of gender in any domain. Findings/conclusions: The findings of the present study, on the one hand, support the view that, by and large, reduced to a certain degree, input is still sufficient for monolingual-like language development; on the other hand, it demonstrates that reduced input may lead to non-monolingual-like and/or incomplete acquisition and, therefore, appears to be a main factor determining the development of a language and accounting for its strengths and weaknesses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: This study investigates wh-in-situ transfer for sequential bilingual children whose first language (L1) is Korean and early second language (L2) is English. Previous research has shown evidence that bilingual children who speak one in-situ language and one wh-movement language often show transfer from the dominant language to the weaker language, and from the in-situ language to the wh-movement language. The purpose of this study is to explore whether wh-in-situ is transferred to English, under the influence of Korean. The research questions are as follows: Do K-E bilingual children produce more wh-in-situ questions in English than their monolingual counterparts? If so, do these wh-in-situ questions appear in illicit constructions? Design/Methodology: The design of this study is longitudinal in nature, in order to best capture a holistic picture of the children’s productions of English over time. Seven K-E children spanning ages 2;4 to 7;11 were observed in their spontaneous play interactions over approximately two years. Data/Analysis: The data consists of 120 recordings, which were transcribed and coded in ELAN. Monolingual comparison data were obtained from the CHILDES database. Findings/Conclusions: Results show no instances of wh-in-situ in the children’s English; the bilingual children pattern similarly to English-monolingual children in wh-in-situ production. No direct influence from Korean to English for wh-in-situ formation was found, contrary to what has been found in studies with other language pairs. Originality: This paper provides new evidence from a language pairing that has not been previously explored for crosslinguistic influence of wh-in-situ questions. Significance/Implications: The findings suggest that a dominance approach or structural complexity approach to predicting crosslinguistic influence for bilingual speakers may not fully capture the conditions for such influence to occur and may require some modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims and objectives: In this paper we investigate measures for the evaluation of a child’s bilingualism. Methodology: We compare a caretaker report on the estimated quantity and quality of a child’s bilingualism to results from direct assessment of the bilingual child’s production of complex sentences in Korean and English. We adopt an integrated methodology in which two case studies, closely matched on caretaker report and general background, are investigated directly through an elicited imitation task, for their knowledge of syntactic factors underlying development of coordinate sentence structure in both languages. Data and analysis: The participants are two four-year-old Korean-English bilingual children. We compare the caretaker report on the estimated quantity and quality of the children’s bilingualism to results from the direct assessment of their production of comparable complex sentences in both languages. We adopt an integrated methodology in which the two case studies, closely matched on caretaker report and general background, are investigated directly through an elicited imitation task for their knowledge of syntactic factors underlying development of coordinate sentence structure in both languages. Findings: Direct assessment reveals significant differences between the two children in the quantity and quality of their bilingualism, in spite of commonalities in caretaker reports. Limitations: This study compared only two children and two languages, and focused on language production. Replication with a larger number of subjects, including variation in child age, and measurement through other tasks, for example, tests of language comprehension, are merited. Implications: Results are interpreted as motivating both the refinement of caretaker report questionnaires and the necessity for direct assessment of bilingual participants, and suggest the elicited imitation task as a valuable method for conducting such direct assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crosslinguistically, children begin producing the person and number features of personal pronouns in a similar order. This article explored whether the same is true of verbal agreement morphology and evaluated three potential explanatory hypotheses which could account for a universal sequence of the development of phi features: the existence of an innate feature geometry, statistical properties in the input, and the organization of verbal paradigms. I examined these hypotheses in light of data from 20 bilingual children aged 2;00–3;06 years acquiring Basque and Spanish as well as child-directed speech from four adult speakers of Basque and Spanish. The results did not fit the predictions of the feature-geometric analysis nor the frequency-driven approach. However, there is evidence of paradigm building from the children’s early errors in the production of finite verbs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This commentary on the preceding six articles focuses on three issues concerning simultaneous and successive acquisition in early childhood which are addressed directly or indirectly in the contributions under discussion. The first issue concerns crosslinguistic interaction. It is argued that the evidence presented here speaks in favour of autonomous grammatical development in simultaneous bilingualism. Crosslinguistic interaction seems to happen only when grammatical knowledge is activated, i.e. in language use. The second problem area discussed here concerns the respective roles of input, universal mechanisms, and age of onset of acquisition as factors determining the course of acquisition. The claim is that these and other variables all contribute to an explanation of developmental sequences in monolingual and bilingual first language acquisition but that quantitative properties of the input do not override universal principles in the domain of grammar. The third point consists in emphasizing the role of second language speakers as role models for bilingual children. This provides an explanation of contact-induced change in core areas of grammar where, otherwise, empirical evidence does not support the claim of crosslinguistic interaction in bilingual children acquiring two languagessimultaneously. It also constitutes a plausible scenario accounting for diachronic grammaticalchange. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study investigates the language development of 2- to 3-year-old Turkish—Dutch bilingual children with different amounts of input quantity. Developmental patterns in spontaneous speech data of the bilingual children are compared to those of monolingual children of the same age. It is found that low input quantity leads to slower grammatical development, but only if input is clearly reduced. The observation that not only mean length of utterance but also the development of finiteness can show pronounced delays in bilingual language acquisition contradicts maturational views of grammatical development. However, such overall delays are expected given input-based theories of grammatical acquisition. All four bilingual children show difficulties in establishing the relation between finiteness and expression of grammatical subjects in Dutch. It is argued that cross-linguistic influence, driven by surface overlap between Turkish and Dutch, may account for this observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates morphological vulnerability in incomplete bilingual L1 acquisition. It examines the production of L1 inflections by L2-dominant bilingual children, with the aim of exploring causes of difficulty in agreement marking. Spontaneous data (18 hours) from six Hungarian-English bilingual children, aged seven to nine, is used to compare the production of possessive inflections and verbal inflections, which are expressed by identical surface morphology in Hungarian. Drawing on recent analysis of Hungarian (Alberti, 1995; Szabolcsi, 1994), the paper asks where and why agreement morphology is susceptible to variability in bilingual children's weaker L1. Results indicate significant differences in the accuracy of agreement morphology. Inflections are almost error-free in possessive nominals and subject-verb agreement. However, they are frequently omitted in possessive be-clauses, which can be attributed to a combination of factors: (i) influence of semantic-syntactic properties of English have on Hungarian be possessive construction (transfer from L2); (ii) difficulty with long-distance agreement in Hungarian be-possessives (structural complexity of L1); and (iii) influence of Hungarian existential and locative constructions on possessive-be (ambiguity in L1). It is argued that morphological variability is selective, and the main source of vulnerability is the syntax-semantics interface where the weaker L1 is most susceptible to L2 influence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article proposes a theoretical approach to bilingual development that is in line with general guidelines on language behavior. As we view bilingual development as a particular case of language development we first present a general approach to language development. We argue that language development is dependent upon a number of prerequisites; this includes socialization processes, the development of the functions for which language will be used, and the existence of language-behavior models in the child's environment. The principal feature of this model is that it attempts to take simultaneously into account a macrological analysis at the societal level, a micrological analysis at the individual level and the interface between both. In accordance with the Bates and MacWhinney approach, we suggest that language develops through a constant form-function, form-form, and function-function mapping We apply this approach to bilinguality and analyze a number of case studies of bilingual development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the principles and mechanisms of language attrition in a group of Russian immigrant children in the United States. The discussions and analyses in the study are carried out within the theoretical framework provided by the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) model and its two submodels: the 4-M model and the Abstract Level model. The data are analyzed for the presence of bilingual production, such as codeswitching (CS), convergence, and bare forms. Because different types of morphemes become salient at different levels of the abstract lexical structure, some are less accessible and therefore more vulnerable as language attrition progresses. A structural definition of convergence based on the interaction of the abstract lexical structures of the languages participating in the bilingual speech is developed. The analysis shows that bare forms are produced as a result of both CS and convergence in the abstract structure. Bare forms represent an intermediate stage of language loss, preceded by integrated CS forms and followed by convergence. Overt CS is defined as the presence of morphemes from two varieties; these may be nontarget forms, including bare forms. Overt CS alone is found not to be indicative of language attrition since it does not, by it self, lead to the projection of parts of the abstract structure of the Embedded Language onto the grammatical frame of the Matrix Language (ML). Covert CS (convergence) may occur alone or along with overt CS (nontarget forms, including bare forms). Covert CS is, indeed, an indicator of language attrition in progress since it is a result of a composite Matrix Language. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]