Early Bilinguals Research Articles

Cross-Linguistic Phonetic Variation in Bilingual Speech: Cantonese /n/ > [l] Merger in Early Cantonese-English Bilinguals.

/n/ is merging with /l/ in Cantonese, as well as in several other Chinese languages. The Cantonese merger appears categorical, with /n/ becoming /l/ syllable-initially. This project aims to describe /n/ and /l/ in Cantonese and English speech from early Cantonese-English bilinguals to better understand the status of the merger in Cantonese and its potential for cross-linguistic mutual influence. We examine early bilinguals' (n = 34) speech using the Speech in Cantonese and English (SpiCE) corpus, focusing on pre-vocalic /n/ and /l/ onsets in both languages. Items were auditorily coded for their perceived category identity, and two acoustic measures anticipated to have the potential to differentiate /n/ and /l/ within and across languages were applied. In English, bilinguals maintained a clear contrast between /n/ and /l/ in the auditory coding and in acoustic measurements. In Cantonese, however, there were higher rates of [l] for /n/ items, in line with the merger, and [n] for /l/ items, indicating hypercorrection of the pattern. Across languages, bilinguals produced language-specific /l/s, but there were no acoustic differences between Cantonese and English /n/. The participation of Cantonese /n/ in a sound change does not appear to compromise English /n/s' patterning, suggesting that Cantonese and English /n/ are maintained as distinct categories in the minds of early bilinguals.

Language choice and code-mixing in a longitudinal study of an Estonian-English bilingual child

The input that bilingual children receive influences their language proportions, language development, and code-mixing. Most studies on these topics have included early bilinguals whose input proportions undergo large changes in early childhood and whose parents use the one-parent-one-language family language policy. This paper examines the input-output proportions of an Estonian-English bilingual child over a period of 2.5 years (2;3-5;01) using recorded spontaneous speech from a situation where the input language proportions did not change and where the family language policy was different from the one-parent-one-language policy that is presented in most studies: the family rotated the language they all spoke by the day of the week. Additionally, the child’s code-mixing rate and her MLU scores are investigated to provide an overview of these factors in an unstudied input situation. Lastly, it is analyzed whether code-mixing by older siblings influences the code-mixing rate of the younger sibling. The results indicate that in the early phases of language development the child uses all the linguistic resources available to her, and as her language develops, she responds more in the language of the conversation and code-mixes less. However, there is also a period where the child unexpectedly almost stops speaking in Estonian regardless of the unchanged input. The data shows that code-mixed utterances are the longest, hence supporting previous research findings and indicating that code-mixing is a tool that helps the child communicate better. Code-mixing by siblings does not show any signs of affecting the younger sibling’s code-mixing rate, though a more thorough analysis is necessary. Hence, the results indicate the importance of input and shed light on input effects in bilingual language acquisition in an understudied input situation.

Variation in VOT in English child-directed speech of English-Mandarin and English-Malay early bilinguals in Singapore

ABSTRACT Variability has been observed in the phonetic/phonological properties of child-directed speech from late-second language bilingual caregivers, but less is known about input variation among early bilinguals in multi-dialectal/multilingual contexts. This study examined English stop voicing contrasts in the adult-directed and child-directed speech of 30 Singaporean early bilingual mothers who differed in their other language (Mandarin/Malay) and language dominance. Results showed that, while Malay and Chinese mothers used similar voice onset time (VOT) for voicing contrast, they differed in where on the VOT continuum these contrasts were made, regardless of speech style and dominance. Compared to their English-dominant peers, Malay/Mandarin-dominant mothers also produced smaller contrasts overall. These patterns could be attributed to cross-linguistic influence, as well as effects of long-term language contact and the mothers’ linguistic experiences. Sub-phonemic variation adds complexity to child bilingual phonological acquisition, emphasising the need to consider input properties in sociolinguistically complex contexts.

Cross-Sectional Study on the Effect of Bilingualism, Age, Gender, and Family Income on Executive Function Development in a Sample of Lebanese School-Aged Children

ABSTRACT This study investigates executive functions (EFs) and selected developmental factors in 120 children aged 6–11 years. By examining inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility, the research evaluates the potential influences of age, gender, bilingualism, and family income on these EF skills. Tests adapted to Lebanese Arabic were used to assess EFs. Results indicate a linear development of inhibition, working memory, and flexibility with age. Gender differences were observed, affecting verbal and visuospatial working memory as well as flexibility. Bilingualism positively impacts EFs, with early bilinguals outperforming late bilinguals. Family income, however, shows no significant effect on EFs.

Acoustic Analyses of L1 and L2 Vowel Interactions in Mandarin–Cantonese Late Bilinguals

While the focus of bilingual research is frequently on simultaneous or early bilingualism, the interactions between late bilinguals’ first language (L1) and second language (L2) have rarely been studied previously. To fill this research gap, the aim of the current study was to investigate the production of vowels in the L1 Mandarin and L2 Cantonese of Mandarin–Cantonese late bilinguals in Hong Kong. A production experiment was conducted with 22 Mandarin–Cantonese bilinguals, as well as with 20 native Mandarin speakers and 21 native Cantonese speakers. Acoustic analyses, including formants of and Euclidean distances between the vowels, were performed. Both vowel category assimilation and dissimilation were noted in the Mandarin–Cantonese bilinguals’ L1 and L2 vowel systems, suggesting interactions between the bilinguals’ L1 and L2 vowel categories. In general, the findings are in line with the hypotheses of the Speech Learning Model and its revised version, which state that L1–L2 phonetic interactions are inevitable, as there is a common phonetic space for storing the L1 and L2 phonetic categories, and that learners always have the ability to adapt their phonetic space. Future studies should refine the data elicitation method, increase the sample size and include more language pairs to better understand L1 and L2 phonetic interactions.

Scope assignment in quantifier-negation sentences in early Korean-Chinese bilinguals’ grammars

Quantifier-negation sentences allow an inverse scope reading in many languages, but this phenomenon is not observed in Chinese. Building on the work of Chen and Huan (2023), this study investigates whether early Korean-Chinese bilinguals can make a distinction between Korean and Chinese in terms of the inverse scope. Employing the sentence-picture matching truth value judgment experiment from Chen and Huan (2023), we recruited a group of 23 early Korean-Chinese bilinguals and 15 monolingual Korean speakers. The experimental results aligned with those of Chen and Huan (2023), which identified three distinct groups of bilinguals. The first group permits an inverse scope reading in both Korean and Chinese, the second group prohibits it in both languages, and the third group successfully distinguishes between Korean and Chinese regarding inverse scope. These findings suggest that early bilinguals may experience long-lasting crosslinguistic influence that extends into adulthood. They may adopt either of two opposite strategies when constructing sentences, both of which can potentially minimize syntactic differences between their two languages.

Dominant-while-speaking: How bilingual Norwegian–English children conceptualize goal-oriented motion events

Aim: This study investigates how simultaneous bilingual Norwegian–English children conceptualize goal-oriented motion events in their two languages, which have different and partly conflicting language-specific conceptualization patterns (the so-called holistic, endpoint-oriented perspective vs. a phasal perspective with focus on ongoingness). Design: The experiment combined three different methodologies to measure attention to endpoints: elicitation of spoken data, eye-tracking, and a subsequent memory test. A total of 23 bilingual Norwegian–English children participated on a separate day for each language. The comparison groups comprised monolingual Norwegian children ( n = 21), first language (L1) Norwegian adults ( n = 30), and L1 English adults ( n = 20). Data and analysis: The statistical analysis included calculations of endpoints mentioned and endpoints remembered in each language and for both sessions, and an event-related analysis was conducted to establish the total length of all fixations on the areas of interest (AoIs [the endpoints]), in each language and for both sessions. Findings/conclusions: The results showed an effect of the language of operation on conceptualization, independent of language dominance, but depending on the situation. In their first session, the bilingual children showed a strong awareness of the prototypical conceptualization pattern in the language they were speaking. In their second session, the children’s conceptualization was influenced by their first. Hence, we can talk about a flexible conceptual dominance linked to language, the situation, and to previous experience. Originality: This study for the first time explores simultaneous bilingual children’s conceptualization of goal-oriented motion events in their two languages and with different methodologies. Significance/implications: This study brings new insights into our understanding of early bilingualism at a conceptual level, with implications for the field, but also for parents, caregivers, and stakeholders, who at times need to be reminded about children’s unique capacity for language learning.

Fluctuating cognitive benefits in children attending early bilingual immersive instruction

Abstract Cognitive benefits have been reported in early bilinguals as well as in children attending a Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) school programme. Recent findings, however, show divergent results. These inconsistent findings seem to be attributable, among other factors, to the divergent tasks applied. This study aimed to determine whether a two-year CLIL programme has positive effects by applying the same tasks for which advantages were shown previously and to examine whether potential gains might impact children’s academic performance. Thirty 7-year-old French-speaking pupils who had been enrolled in a CLIL programme since the age of 5 and 30 French-speaking monolinguals following a traditional school programme were compared on different attentional and executive tasks after being matched on potential confounding variables. No attentional and executive differences were observed, but a significant effect was observed in favour of monolinguals on a task assessing mathematical skills. The implications of these results are discussed.

Task-based elementary Spanish in rural Indiana: A practice-based collaboration

Spanish is the second most spoken language in the United States and the most taught additional language (L2) in elementary-level schools. However, the amount and type of access differs according to the resources available. Rural settings, which comprise a third of all schools in the US, often have fewer resources and support for the development and maintenance of exposure-track L2 programs, which meet once per week with the goal of, as the name suggests, providing exposure to the L2, rather than a focus on cumulative language development. Given that there are immediate and long-term benefits of even low levels of early bilingualism, ensuring access to quality L2 education is a matter of equity. This paper centers on the first year of a longitudinal collaboration between an exposure-track Spanish language teacher in a rural elementary school, and the research team who created a task-based program tailored for the school following a needs analysis. We analyze the first year of the grant-funded program based on task effectiveness, student enjoyment, and teacher perspectives. We contextualize results within the rural community and offer initial longitudinal data on US exposure-track Spanish. We detail how we adjusted the program for the second year, are freely sharing the materials on the Task Bank (tblt.indiana.edu) and have transferred the program to the teacher’s autonomy. Finally, we highlight that the success of this program was and is due to the collaborative nature of the partnership between the teacher, the researchers, and the administrators.

Effects of second language acquisition on brain functional networks at different developmental stages.

Previous studies have shown that language acquisition influences both the structure and function of the brain. However, whether the acquisition of a second language at different periods of life alters functional network organization in different ways remains unclear. Here, functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 27 English-speaking monolingual controls and 52 Spanish-English bilingual individuals, including 22 early bilinguals who began learning a second language before the age of ten and 30 late bilinguals who started learning a second language at age fourteen or later, were collected from the OpenNeuro database. Topological metrics of resting-state functional networks, including small-world attributes, network efficiency, and rich- and diverse-club regions, that characterize functional integration and segregation of the networks were computed via a graph theoretical approach. The results showed obvious increases in network efficiency in early bilinguals and late bilinguals relative to the monolingual controls; for example, the global efficiency of late bilinguals and early bilinguals was improved relative to that of monolingual controls, and the local efficiency of early bilinguals occupied an intermediate position between that of late bilinguals and monolingual controls. Obvious increases in rich-club and diverse-club functional connectivity were observed in the bilinguals relative to the monolingual controls. Three network metrics were positively correlated with Spanish proficiency test scores. These findings demonstrated that early and late acquisition of a second language had different impacts on the functional networks of the brain.

Enhanced Reading Skills are Associated with Auditory Spatial Attentional Rebalance Induced by the Exposure to Dual-language Contexts

ABSTRACT Purpose Research on the effects on early bilingualism on reading development is scarce. Here, we tackle this question by investigating whether the exposure to dual-language contexts (use of two languages in the same conversational situation) induces a boost in phonological and reading performance through more balanced spatial auditory attentional skills. Method Thirty Grade 1 early Spanish-Basque bilingual children predominantly exposed to dual-language contexts and 30 matched Spanish-Basque bilingual children predominantly exposed to single-language contexts were assessed on a dichotic listening task: syllables were simultaneously presented to the left and right ears and children were instructed to report the syllable they heard best. Results The dual-language contexts group demonstrated a reduced right ear advantage than the single-language contexts group, suggesting a more balanced report of syllables across ears in the former group. Moreover, more balanced reports were associated with more efficient reading skills. Conclusions These results suggest that the frequent exposure to dual-language contexts possibly triggers the spatial rebalance of attentional resources for speech processing, impacting positively the development of reading skills. Future studies will determine whether some bilingual experience might act as a protective factor to reduce the prevalence and severity of future reading impairments such as dyslexia.

Investigating post-focus compression in code-switching: A comparative study of Twain Mandarin and English

On-focus pitch range expansion is a documented phenomenon in both English and Mandarin Chinese. However, the presence of post-focus compression (PFC) contrasts with its absence in Taiwan Mandarin, a regional variant of Mandarin Chinese. This discrepancy becomes particularly intriguing in the context of code-switching, which provides a unique lens to observe the interplay between these two languages. This study probes the manifestation and cognitive processing of PFC in code-switching constructs, employing a bilingual paradigm between English and Taiwan Mandarin. Through a carefully designed production experiment, this research addresses two questions: (a) Is PFC evidence in the code-switching utterances of simultaneous and early bilinguals? (b) Is there an observable correlation between the emergence of PRC in linguistic output and the language proficiency of late bilinguals, potentially indicating a transfer effect from Taiwan Mandarin to English? Anticipated results may substantiate the presence of linguistic transfer in the code-switching sentences of bilingual individuals of diverse English proficiencies. Furthermore, the implications of these findings may extend to pedagogical strategies, offering insights into the deployment of code-switching within multilingual educational settings.

Beyond accuracy

The language of Heritage Speakers (HS), or of early bilinguals of a minority language, is often seen as incomplete or less developed than that of Monolingual Speakers (MS). This study investigates whether 7- to 9-year-old English/Polish HS can be distinguished from MS in terms of linguistic skills when complexity and fluency are focal rather than accuracy. Data from 78 participants shows no significant differences between HS and MS in fluency on an overall measure in either of the languages, although HS produce more fillers and repetitions. On complexity measures, the results for English were similar across groups for Mean Length of T-Unit, but there was a statistically significant difference in Polish, with HS achieving higher values. On a more specific measure of syntactic complexity (Subordination Index), HS achieved higher scores in both languages. There were no significant differences for Lexical Diversity. Corresponding measures were positively correlated across languages, suggesting that the L1 does not impede L2 achievement. Overall, we observed substantial overlap between the groups, with the vast majority of HS falling within the MS norms and the MS falling within the HS norms. This emphasises the need to move away from the deficit approach towards HS.

Phonetics of Early Bilingualism

This article presents an overview of recent research on the phonetics of early bilinguals, individuals who have acquired both of their languages early in life, by either growing up being exposed to two languages since birth (i.e., simultaneous bilinguals) or having initially learned their first language with the second language introduced at a later stage during their childhood (i.e., early sequential or successive/consecutive bilinguals). This review puts forth empirical evidence from methodologically and theoretically diverse studies on the phonetics of early bilingualism and considers explanations for the observed patterns of cross-linguistic influence on the production, perception, and processing of sounds in both of their languages. Throughout, this article discusses the critical significance of early linguistic experience on bilingual speech patterns, how early-onset bilinguals perceive speech sounds in each language, bilinguals’ phonetic abilities when producing language-specific segmental and suprasegmental features, and the dynamic nature of cross-language sound interactions in early bilingual speech.

Beyond age: exploring ultimate attainment in heritage speakers and late L2 learners.

According to the Critical Period Hypothesis, successful language learning is optimal during early childhood, whereas language learning outside of this time window is unsuccessful. In this respect, early language acquisition is viewed as convergent and reliable but late acquisition is not. The present study revisits the idea of a critical period by investigating the grammatical attainment of early bilinguals/heritage speakers (HSs), late second/foreign language (L2) learners, and comparable groups of monolinguals by testing Greek-English bilinguals in the two languages they speak by means of a grammaticality judgment task. Our findings show that in English, HSs performed on par with monolinguals, both groups surpassing the late L2 learners, who performed about 2 SDs below the HSs and the monolinguals. In Greek, late L2 learners and monolinguals exhibited comparable performance, contrasting sharply with the HSs' significantly lower proficiency, which was on average about 5 SDs below the late L2 learners and the monolinguals. Consequently, our results show that the performance gaps between HSs and Greek monolinguals/late L2 learners were more pronounced than the differences between late L2 learners and English monolinguals/HSs, suggesting that the early bilinguals' success in English may come at the expense of their heritage language (Greek). Furthermore, we observe substantially more individual variation within HSs in their heritage language than within the late L2 learners for their second language. Thus, testing bilinguals in both of their languages allows us to unveil the complexity of grammatical ultimate attainment and prompt a re-thinking of age as the major determining factor of (un)successful attainment.

The Vocabulary Skills of Ukrainian Pre-schoolers in Poland

This article analyses the language situation in preschool communities in Poland where Ukrainian children have access to education. The authors report the results of a pilot study conducted in Krakow with Ukrainian preschool children as part of the project "Early stages of development of bilingualism of Ukrainian children in Polish preschools" funded by the National Agency for Academic Exchange (BPN/GIN/2022/1/00013).As part of the project, 4- and 5-year-old Ukrainian children who arrived in Poland after February 24, 2022, as a result of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, participated in a study of lexical competence in Ukrainian and Polish. Vocabulary tests in Ukrainian and Polish reveal the Ukrainian children's previous language experience as well as quantitative indicators of their mastery of Polish during their brief stay in Poland.The study provides information about the characteristics of vocabulary acquisition of early bilinguals in general. The results indicate significant differences between 4- and 5-year-old Ukrainian children in terms of learning Polish vocabulary in different situations.

Early Bilingual Education: A General Bibliometric Approach and Content Analysis Using SciMAT

Bilingual and multilingual education have certainly gained popularity in the past decades since societies are increasingly becoming more aware of the need to welcome additional languages into the school curricula in order to equip citizens with a functional use of several languages. However, research about the extent to which bilingual practices are present at preschool education has not been fully exploited, mainly because this is a non-obligatory educational stage in most countries, and the wide variety of educational contexts in which practices can take place. This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis of early bilingual education, using as a reference the publications in the Web of Science Core Collection from 1988 to 2022. For this purpose, 1011 publications were analysed by applying advanced bibliometric techniques in SciMAT bibliometric analysis software. This research is hoped to serve as a framework to identify existing research lines and outline new ones, establishing synergetic relationships that were not visible without the maps generated herein.

Early‐life bilingualism could protect from age‐related gray matter volume loss in the left caudate – preliminary results

AbstractBackgroundEarly‐life bilingualism (i.e., second language acquisition before the age of 30) has been shown to confer benefits in separate cognitive domains later in life, possibly contributing to the concept of cognitive reserve. However, the effects of early‐life bilingualism on cognitive performance and gray matter volume (GMV) in the elderly have been studied scarcely. In an ongoing cohort, we examined the influence of early‐life bilingualism on cognitive performance (e.g., phonemic fluency as tested by the Regensburg word fluency test (RWT), among others) as well as age‐related brain gray matter volume in older adults.MethodWe analysed 3‐Tesla T1‐weighted Multi‐Echo MPRAGE and cognitive data from 25 healthy adults (72.8±7.69 years, 10 female) in our new cohort established within the CRC1436 (https://sfb1436.de/). Assessment of bilingualism was conducted using the Lifetime of Experiences Questionnaire (LEQ). MRI data were preprocessed and analysed using FSL‐VBM. We performed a whole‐brain analysis looking for an interaction between age and bilingualism on GMV values, postulating that early bilingualism might contribute to a preservation of gray matter along the age trajectory. We extracted GMV values from significant regions of interest (ROIs) and looked for correlations with cognitive performance. Due to the small cohort and the preliminary nature of these analyses, we chose an exploratory threshold of p<0.001 (uncorrected) for the whole brain analysis. ROIs were defined by a threshold of p<0.1 cluster‐corrected (z>3.1).ResultParticipants with early‐life bilingualism (n = 7) had significantly more years of education (p<0.05) and performed better in the RWT (p<0.05) than monolinguals (n = 18). The age‐bilingualism interaction term across the whole brain (adjusted for education) identified the head of left caudate nucleus as being protected from age‐related GMV loss by early‐life bilingualism (Fig. 1). The age‐GMV‐relationship for both groups is shown in Fig. 2. We observed no significant relationship between GMV in the left caudate and performance in any cognitive tests.ConclusionThese preliminary results hint at a role of early‐life bilingualism in modulating GMV in older adults. How these relate to better cognitive performance remains to be elucidated. Moreover, considering brain areas not typically studied in cognitive aging, such as the basal ganglia, seems worthwhile.

Meanness trumps language: Lack of foreign language effect in early bilinguals' moral choices.

Moral decision-making is influenced by various factors, including personality and language. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the Foreign-Language effect (FLe) in early, highly proficient, Catalan-Spanish bilinguals and examined the role of several personality dimensions in their responses to moral dilemmas. We obtained a multilevel data structure with 766 valid trials from 52 Catalan-dominant undergraduate students who read and responded anonymously to a computerized task with 16 standardized moral dilemmas, half in Catalan and half in Spanish. Results of a multilevel multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that consistent with previous research, participants gave more utilitarian responses to impersonal than personal dilemmas. The language of the dilemma had no effect on the response (dichotomous: utilitarian vs. deontological), decision time, or affective ratings, contradicting the hypothesis of shallower emotional processing of the information in the second language. Interestingly, cruelty features of psychopathy were significantly associated with an enhanced proportion of utilitarian decisions irrespective of the language or the nature of the dilemmas. Furthermore, cruelty features interacted with participants' assessment of dilemma aspects like vividness and verisimilitude. Overall, our findings suggest that early bilinguals immersed in a dual-language context using close Romance languages do not show the FLe and that personality traits like cruelty can modulate moral decisions regardless of language or dilemma type.

Learning a Foreign Language in the Context of Immersion

The following thesis aims to discover how the language acquisition process develops in preschoolers when learning two languages, in the immersion context, as early bilinguals. This article applies and combines knowledge and theories from education, linguistics, psycholinguistics, and the study of bilingualism. Throughout the paper, basic notions about bilingualism and the development of early bilingualism in the case of immersion preschoolers and dominant theories were presented. The methods used to discover this thesis's specific responses were a questionnaire and an interview. Those methods were used on three children, born in the country of immersion and learning both the minority and majority language. The respondents were the parents and preschool teachers of these children.