The influence of different first languages on LITMUS nonword-repetition and sentence repetition in second language French and second language German

Abstract

The study investigates the appropriateness of the French and German LITMUS–Sentence Repetition (LITMUS–SR) and the LITMUS–Quasi–Universal–Nonword–Repetition task (LITMUS–QU–NWR) for the assessment of bilingual children with diverse language backgrounds. We examine the quantitative and qualitative performance of 117 bilingual typically developing children (BiTD), and 34 bilingual children with Specific Language Impairment (BiSLI) with Arabic, Portuguese and Turkish as their first language (L1). These data are compared to 47 monolingual typically developing children (MoTD). Given the typological and linguistic differences between the languages involved, the comparisons of the performance of bilingual and monolingual children in two typologically different L2s are intended to provide a baseline for typical L2 development and may shed light on morphosyntactic difficulties that are due to cross–linguistic influence.