The Processing Features of Preverbal Negation in a Bilingual Child

Abstract

The purposes of this study are firstly to investigate the process of development of preverbal negation in Korean in a simultaneous bilingual child; secondly to find both common and divergent paths in the development of preverbal negation in Korean in terms of both syntactic development and pragmatic uses of preverbal negation; and thirdly to investigate potential explanations for the particular pattern of development observed. The data were derived through one bilingual child (R) who is simultaneously acquiring two languages, Korean and English over two years between the ages of 5;00 and 7;00 (years;months). The data were collected in four periods in two different environments: Periods 1 and III in Australia, Periods Il and IV in Korea. The processing of preverbal negation revealed that when R was in Australia, she used both L1 and 12 learning mechanisms, while when she was in Korea, she used L1 learning mechanisms. The results show that L1 and 12 mechanisms are not fundamentally different since R shows both forward and backward developmental features in relation to the two different language environments: Korea and Australia.