Abstract
This research traces the phonological development and the phonological processes in the speech of a bilingual child acquiring Jordanian Arabic and English. This trace is carried out through a thorough description of the phonological development of segments in Jordanian Arabic and English. It is also carried out through discussing the phonological processes resorted to by the child in order to simplify the production of segments in both languages. This study is the first of its kind to compare and contrast phonological processes in the speech of a bilingual child whose two first languages descend from two different linguistic families. The study also scrutinizes evidence of any influence of one language over the other. Evidence for either the Separate Development Hypothesis or the Fusion Hypothesis is also investigated. The data used in this paper are collected by the author from her own child acquiring Arabic and English simultaneously between the ages of 7 and 20 months. The child’s sound segment development showed consistency with universal trends. Phonological processes such as regressive and progressive assimilation, substitution and metathesis were found in the child’s production of English and Arabic sounds. The study provides limited evidence for the occurrence of interlanguage interference. On the other hand, the study provides strong supportive evidence for the Separate Development Hypothesis.
Highlights
This study is the first of its kind to compare and contrast phonological processes in the speech of a bilingual child whose two first languages descend from two different linguistic families
In addition to tracing the phonological development of Arabic and English, the main aim of this study is to present the field of bilingualism with data sets from English and Arabic illustrating the phonological processes resorted to by a bilingual child acquiring Jordanian Arabic and English
Leopold (1978) proposed the Fusion Hypothesis which assumes that bilingual children develop one unified linguistic system through which two languages operate right from the beginning
Summary
Several studies have been conducted to trace phonological development and phonological processes in the speech of monolingual children (Daana 2009; Hume 1998; Ingram 1986/1981/1973; Jakobson 1971; Johnson and Reimers 2010; Kohler 1990; Stempe 1969; Steriade 2001; Younis 2008) as well as bilingual children (Adnyani and Pastika 2016; Celce-Murica 1978; De Houwer 1990; Deuchar and Quay 1998; Genesee 1989; Hulk and Van der Lenden 1996; Johnson and Lancaster 1998; Leopold 1978/1970; Lieven 2010; Muller 1998; Nicoladis 1998; Paradis 1996; Redlinger and Park 1980; Vogel 1975; Volterra and Taeschner 1978; Yip and Mathews 2007; Yip 2013; Daana 2017a; Daana 2017b; Daana and Khrais 2018). Leopold (1978) proposed the Fusion Hypothesis which assumes that bilingual children develop one unified linguistic system through which two languages operate right from the beginning. That is to say the child’s system is undifferentiated (Leopold 1970/1978; Vogel 1975; Celce-Muricia 1978; Redlinger and Park 1980; Volterra and Taeschner 1978). Genesee (1989) called this the Unitary Language System Hypothesis (ULSH)
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