Linguistic Interference between L1 and L2 in Internationally Adopted Children

Abstract

Bilingual children learning two languages either simultaneously or successively experience patterns of cross-language interference or facilitation due to similarities and differences between the languages. Internationally adopted toddlers are only truly bilingual for a short period of time because the first language disappears quickly after adoption. Yet residual effects of the disappearing first language might impact patterns of learning the new language. To determine if cross-language patterns affected language learning in very young children, language samples were collected from 23 children adopted from Eastern Europe between 11 and 23 months of age. Samples were collected at 6-month intervals during the first year after adoption, then annually up through age 4. Age and order of acquisition of several grammatical morphemes including V + ing, articles, contracted and uncontracted copulas, and contracted and uncontracted auxiliary were explored. These morphological structures developed in the same sequence observed in monolingual children speaking English and were not notably impacted by cross-linguistic factors from language 1. Guidelines for professionals and parents are discussed.