Simultaneous Bilinguals Research Articles

Rhythmic grouping biases in simultaneous bilinguals

AbstractThis study provides a novel approach for testing the universality of perceptual biases by looking at speech processing in simultaneous bilingual adults learning two languages that support the maintenance of this bias to different degrees. Specifically, we investigated the Iambic/Trochaic Law, an assumed universal grouping bias, in simultaneous French–German bilinguals, presenting them with streams of syllables varying in intensity, duration or neither and asking them whether they perceived them as strong-weak or weak-strong groupings. Results showed robust, consistent grouping preferences. A comparison to monolinguals from previous studies revealed that they pattern with German-speaking monolinguals, and differ from French-speaking monolinguals. The distribution of simultaneous bilinguals' individual performance was best explained by a model fitting a unimodal (not bimodal) distribution, failing to support two subgroups of language dominance. Moreover, neither language experience nor language context predicted their performance. These findings suggest a special role for universal biases in simultaneous bilinguals.

Emergent Sound-Letter Correspondences in the Early Biliterate Writing Development of Simultaneous Bilingual Children

ABSTRACT Using a psycholinguistic and a holistic bilingual perspective, this study examined the writing conceptualization progressions in Spanish and English of 16 simultaneous bilinguals from preschool through kindergarten. The children were enrolled in a bilingual early childhood program where literacy instruction was primarily in Spanish. We adapted a clinical method used in previous studies to examine the evolution of their biliterate writing, paying particular attention to whether children pass through a syllabic period as they begin to establish sound-letter relationships. Findings indicate that children’s writing in Spanish and English developed in parallel without one language lagging too far behind the other, despite not receiving formal literacy instruction in English. The simultaneous bilingual children in our sample did not seem to begin establishing sound-symbol correspondence through the construction of the syllabic hypothesis. Instead, some children demonstrated their emergent understanding of sound-letter relationships by representing the first sound of a word. The majority of the children, however, seemed to have discovered the relationship between sounds and letters by attending to both syllables and sounds within a word. Both the essence of being simultaneous bilingual and the literacy instructional methods teachers used may have prevented children from constructing the syllabic hypothesis.

Cross-linguistic f0 differences in bilingual speakers of English and Korean

Languages may differ in fundamental frequency of voicing (f0), even when they are spoken by a bilingual individual. However, little is known in bilingual/L2 acquisition research about simultaneous bilinguals. With the expectation that speakers who acquired two languages early use f0 differently for each language, this study measured f0 in English-Korean early bilinguals' natural speech. The f0 level was higher for Korean than English, regardless of gender, age, or generational status (early and late bilinguals did not differ). The f0 span showed a language-gender interaction: males' span was larger in Korean, while females' span was larger in English. This study demonstrates that languages differ in f0 independent of speaker anatomy and suggests that children may acquire these differences in early childhood.

Exposure to a second language in infancy alters speech production.

We evaluated the impact of exposure to a second language on infants' emerging speech production skills. We compared speech produced by three groups of 12-month-old infants while they interacted with interlocutors who spoke to them in Spanish and English: monolingual English-learning infants who had previously received 5 hours of exposure to a second language (Spanish), English- and Spanish-learning simultaneous bilinguals, and monolingual English-learning infants without any exposure to Spanish. Our results showed that the monolingual English-learning infants with short-term exposure to Spanish and the bilingual infants, but not the monolingual English-learning infants without exposure to Spanish, flexibly matched the prosody of their babbling to that of a Spanish- or English-speaking interlocutor. Our findings demonstrate the nature and extent of benefits for language learning from early exposure to two languages. We discuss the implications of these findings for language organization in infants learning two languages.

The acquisition of recursively embedded noun modifiers in Romanian by Hungarian-Romanian bilinguals

The present study examines how simultaneous bilinguals acquire phenomena which are delayed in monolingual development. It compares how 5- and 7-year-old Hungarian-Romanian bilinguals and Romanian monolinguals comprehend complex DPs with recursively embedded locative Prepositional Phrase and subject relative clause modifiers. The order of acquisition is the same in L1 and in 2L1: during the early stages children assign both conjunctive and recursive readings to complex DPs with embedded modifiers and gradually reduce the number of conjunctive responses to the advantage of recursive ones. At age 7 neither the monolinguals nor the bilinguals behave adult-like. But the results reveal a significant increase in recursive responses from age 5 to age 7 only in L1. In 2L1, at this stage, there is an increase only in the number of conjunctive responses and in errors which target the lexical preposition. Our findings show that the simultaneous bilinguals follow the same acquisition path as the monolinguals but at a slower pace. We argue that when a derivationally complex structure is vulnerable in L1 acquisition, cross-linguistic interference effects may cause an even more prolonged delay in 2L1 acquisition.

Practicing Language Therapy for Effective Simultaneous Bilingualism: Case Studies

Bilingualism and multilingualism are not a typical phenomenon in this present world, rather, it is a norm in the world’s societies these days. People may happen to be bilingual either by acquiring two languages parallelly in their life since childhood or learn with the passage of time as sequential and simultaneous bilinguals. The current study aims to find out the role of language therapists, in terms of supporting parents and teachers, to benefit maximum out of this dual-language ability of their young children, for this case studies were conducted to investigate the question and it was concluded that balanced use of both languages help a child to perform well with proper guidance of language professionals to the parents and teachers. Furthermore, parents always seem trying their child become bilingual because they consider it a positive thing for the better future of their child. This age is the age of advanced technology and science in which new skills are required and demanded. Nowadays, in the whole world, different languages are being used in this technological progress, especially, the developed countries dominate in this field (technology) due to their advanced knowledge in different fields. Hence, the developed countries use their own language(s) in technology and inventions that make it essential to learn more languages. These case studies also depict how much it is advantageous or disadvantageous being bilingual or multilingual.

Between Äh(m) and Euh(m): The Distribution and Realization of Filled Pauses in the Speech of German-French Simultaneous Bilinguals.

Filled pauses are well known for their speaker specificity, yet cross-linguistic research has also shown language-specific trends in their distribution and phonetic quality. To examine the extent to which speakers acquire filled pauses as language- or speaker-specific phenomena, this study investigates the use of filled pauses in the context of adult simultaneous bilinguals. Making use of both distributional and acoustic data, this study analyzed UH, consisting of only a vowel component, and UM, with a vowel followed by [m], in the speech of 15 female speakers who were simultaneously bilingual in French and German. Speakers were found to use UM more frequently in German than in French, but only German-dominant speakers had a preference for UM in German. Formant and durational analyses showed that while speakers maintained distinct vowel qualities in their filled pauses in different languages, filled pauses in their weaker language exhibited a shift towards those in their dominant language. These results suggest that, despite high levels of variability between speakers, there is a significant role for language in the acquisition of filled pauses in simultaneous bilingual speakers, which is further shaped by the linguistic environment they grow up in.

Singing As An Effective Approach For Learning English On Early Childhood

There are so many native languages in Indonesia that makes English as a foreign language following Indonesian as the L2. This leads to the development of simultaneous bilinguals. However, there have been some contradictory opinions on whether learning English for early childhood is effective as it can inhibit a child’s L1 and L2 development. This may lead to the phenomenon of subtractive bilingualism resulting in a major dilemma for the government and parents. However, this notion can be debated through the critical period hypothesis. This study presents a literature review on ‘rhymes, songs, and chant’s as the effective media for learning English and its implication for early childhood through ‘singing’ approach.

Arabic-Spanish Language Contact in Puerto Rico: A Case of Glottal Stop Epenthesis

The current study examines the realization of adjacent vowels across word boundaries in Arabic-Spanish bilinguals and Spanish monolinguals in Puerto Rico, focusing specifically on the rate of glottal stop epenthesis in this context (e.g., hombre africano to [ˈom.bre.ʔa.fri.ˈka.no]). It was hypothesized that Arabic-Spanish bilinguals would show a higher rate of glottal stop epenthesis than Spanish monolinguals because of transfer from Arabic. In addition, we investigated the possible effects of stress, vowel height, language dominance and bilingual type on the rate of glottal stop epenthesis. Results from a reading task with 8 participants showed no significant difference in glottalization between bilinguals and monolinguals. For monolinguals, glottalization was significantly more likely when the first vowel was low or stressed; significant interactions between vowel height and stress were found for the bilingual group. Language dominance was a significant factor, with Arabic-dominant bilinguals glottalizing more than the Spanish-dominant bilinguals. In addition, early sequential bilinguals favored glottalization slightly more than simultaneous bilinguals, without reaching significance. Our data suggests some effects of syllable structure transfer from Arabic, particularly in Arabic-dominant participants. To our knowledge, our study is the first exploration of Arabic and Spanish in contact in Puerto Rico, and the first to acoustically examine the speech of Arabic-Spanish bilinguals.

God Taught Adam and Spoke to Moses: Language Origin, Functions and Early Multilingual Development

This work addresses a number of crucial themes in the history of linguistic enquiry — themes that are still relevant today. Aiming to encourage multiple language learning, and give potential stakeholders momentum to provide supportive multilingual environments for children, the paper first addresses the question of the origins of language or the naturalism-conventionalism debate, highlighting children’s innate potentiality for multilingual acquisition. Second, the paper highlights the pragmalinguistic functions of language, shedding light on the language-thought debate, and illustrating the centrality of language to our life, relations and the exercise of power. The paper, next, deals with the nature-nurture debate or the fantastic and prodigious potentiality of children to develop multicompetence in multiple languages with enviable unselfconscious ease. Drawing on records of longitudinal data comprising the linguistic development of three children raised as simultaneous bilinguals, the paper finally tackles the central theme of the study, providing evidence — both theoretical and empirical — that childhood multilingualism is not only legitimate and highly possible without any detriment of any kind, but also a great asset and a source of power; and that children who have the opportunity to expand their multilingual meaning potential from infancy or early childhood, and to maintain them throughout their lives are fortunate indeed; and therefore concludes that families and policymakers that can offer this critical opportunity to their offspring and citizens are highly encouraged to do so.

The acquisition of a novel accent by monolinguals and early bilinguals: Vowel epenthesis in English voiceless s-clusters

Bilingualism has been linked with improved function regarding certain aspects of linguistic processing, e.g., manipulating language in terms of discrete units, novel word acquisition, and learning unfamiliar sound patterns in novel accents. Recent experimental work with non-native contrasts suggests that bilinguals have enhanced phonetic learning and speech perception abilities compared to monolinguals. We investigate phonetic learning skills in monolinguals (n = 20) and early, simultaneous bilinguals (n = 20). The subjects were trained and tested on an artificial accent of English. One the features distinguishing the novel accent from the standard variety was the presence of vocalic epenthesis in the voiceless s-clusters [sp, st, sk]. For example, words such as “spy” or “school” were pronounced as “suh-py” [səpaj] and “suh-cool” [səkul]. A total of 760 target items were evaluated manually. A score of 1 was assigned for each token produced with an epenthetic vowel between s and the following consonant, otherwise the score was 0. Early bilinguals outperformed the monolinguals on the acquisition of this pattern. Acoustic analyses are underway to assess the differences between the two groups' productions, such as quality, duration, and placement of the epenthetic vowel, as preliminary observations revealed a high number of long-distance phenomena such as [spəhaj] or [spəʔaj].Bilingualism has been linked with improved function regarding certain aspects of linguistic processing, e.g., manipulating language in terms of discrete units, novel word acquisition, and learning unfamiliar sound patterns in novel accents. Recent experimental work with non-native contrasts suggests that bilinguals have enhanced phonetic learning and speech perception abilities compared to monolinguals. We investigate phonetic learning skills in monolinguals (n = 20) and early, simultaneous bilinguals (n = 20). The subjects were trained and tested on an artificial accent of English. One the features distinguishing the novel accent from the standard variety was the presence of vocalic epenthesis in the voiceless s-clusters [sp, st, sk]. For example, words such as “spy” or “school” were pronounced as “suh-py” [səpaj] and “suh-cool” [səkul]. A total of 760 target items were evaluated manually. A score of 1 was assigned for each token produced with an epenthetic vowel between s and the following consonant, ot...

A Case Study on the Acquisition of Plurality in a Bilingual Malay-English Context-bound Child

The early development of simultaneous bilinguals has been at the core of heated controversy since the mid-seventies. The Unitary Language System Hypothesis by Volterra and Taeschner saw early development as a single language system gradually diverging into two systems . On the contrary, Meisel (1989), De Houwer (1990) and Paradis and Genesee (1996) suggested the early separation of two linguistic systems. Neither position, however, considered language environmental conditions constraining development as key variables. This paper aims to show that the predominant environmental languages to which the Malay-English bilingual child in the current study was alternately exposed might have played an important role in shaping the child’s acquisition of plurality in each language. Throughout the period of investigation (from age 3;4 to 3;10 and at 4;8) the child’s interactions were regularly audio and video recorded. The current study focuses on the development of plural marking in a simultaneous Malay-English bilingual child. Interestingly, at a point when English was environmentally predominant, the child would occasionally use the English plural suffix -s on Malay nouns. After moving back to Malaysia, the child used reduplication to mark plurals in both languages. The findings of this study indicate that the predominant linguistic environment in which the child grows and develops plays an important role in shaping the child’s language production.

Long-term outcomes for bilinguals in minority language contexts: Welsh–English teenagers’ performance on measures of grammatical gender and plural morphology in Welsh

AbstractThis study explored the long-term effects of limited input on bilingual teenagers’ acquisition of complex morphology in Welsh. Study 1 assessed 168 12–13 and 16–17-year-old teenagers, across three bilingual groups: those whose first language was Welsh (L1 Welsh), those who learned Welsh and English simultaneously (L1 Welsh–English), and those who learned Welsh as a second language (L2 Welsh), on their receptive knowledge of grammatical gender. Study 2 assessed the same participants on their production of plural morphology. While the results of Study 1 revealed continuous progression toward adult norms among L1 Welsh-speaking bilinguals, with the simultaneous bilinguals progressing at a slower rate, the results of Study 2 revealed performances on plural morphology that were comparable to adult norms among the 16–17-year-old L1 Welsh-speaking bilinguals, and some progression among the simultaneous bilinguals. In contrast, delayed progression was seen among the L2 Welsh-speaking bilinguals across the board, with 16–17-year-old L2 participants lagging behind their L1 peers on both grammatical gender and plural morphology. The implications of these findings for our understanding of the long-term outcomes for bilinguals learning complex structures under minority language conditions are discussed.

Predictors of Theory of Mind performance in bilingual and monolingual children

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The goal of the current study was to examine whether language and Executive Function (EF) skills predict Theory of Mind (ToM) performance in bilingual and monolingual children. Design/methodology/approach: Participants included 44 monolingual English-speaking children ( MAge = 7.03, SD = 1.23), 44 simultaneous English-Spanish bilingual children ( MAge = 7.36, SD = 1.18), and 27 English first language (L1) bilinguals (native English speakers learning Spanish through dual immersion programs; MAge = 7.58, SD = 1.24). In the second-order false belief task, children were asked to reason about one character’s thoughts about another character’s thoughts. Three components of EF were measured: inhibition (via a flanker task); updating of working memory (via a Corsi blocks task); and shifting (via a card sort task). The Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals 4th Edition indexed omnibus English language skills. Data and analysis: Separate logistic regression models were constructed to analyze the predictors of ToM performance for each group controlling for age, socioeconomic status, and non-verbal IQ. Findings/conclusions: Language ability, but not EF skills, predicted ToM performance in simultaneous bilinguals. In contrast, EF skills but not language predicted ToM performance in monolinguals and in English L1 bilinguals. Originality: This is the first study to show that children with distinct language acquisition histories approach verbal ToM problems differently. Significance/implications: It appears that the linguistic demands of the ToM task take priority for children with lower levels of target-language ability, while the cognitive demands of the task take priority for children with higher levels of target-language ability.

Cross-linguistic influence in the use of objects in Japanese/English simultaneous bilingual acquisition

Aims: This study investigates whether, to what extent, and in which direction interface structure induces cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in the use of objects in Japanese/English simultaneous bilinguals. Design: Year-long observations of parent–child interactions in two two-year-olds were conducted to observe the changes taking place at the earliest stages of development. Data analysis: A total of 48 recording sessions were transcribed and coded using Computational Human Articulatory Theory conventions and were compared with mean length of utterance-matched monolingual data drawn from the CHILDES database. Findings: We report a temporary influence from Japanese to English and a mild influence from English to Japanese. Originality: This study offers evidence of CLI in object use in less-studied language pairs. Implications: The data support the interface hypothesis and further suggest that the language combination affects the intensity of influence due to the degree of the overlap. Our data also add evidence to the proposal that without language dominance, CLI occurs from the overt language to the language with null options.

“But you don’t sound Malay!”

Abstract This study examined the English accents of English-Malay bilinguals in Singapore to ascertain whether language dominance was a determinant of accent variation in Singapore English, with a hypothesis that a Malay-dominant bilingual would have more ethnic-specific features than an English-dominant one. Ten English-Malay bilinguals – five English-dominant and five Malay-dominant – who differed greatly in their language dominance took part in this study. In an ethnic discriminability task that involved 60 naïve raters, Malay-dominant bilinguals were significantly more often correctly identified as ethnically Malay and were rated as having a significantly more perceivable Malay-accented English accent, while those who were English-dominant had an English accent that lacked ethnic-specific features so much so that naïve raters, including raters who were English-Malay bilinguals, were less able to identify the speakers as ethnically Malay. The results of this study indicate that early sequential bilinguals or simultaneous bilinguals of the same two languages need not have similar accents. The findings also suggest that language dominance is a determinant of accent variation in Singapore English, at least for the English-Malay bilinguals.

Cross-linguistic f0 differences in bilingual speakers of English and Korean

Author(s): Cheng, Andrew | Abstract: Languages may differ in fundamental frequency of voicing (f0), even when they are spoken by a bilingual individual. However, little is known in bilingual/L2 acquisition research about simultaneous bilinguals. With the expectation that speakers who acquired two languages early use f0 differently for each language, this study measured f0 in English–Korean early bilinguals’ natural speech. The f0 level was higher for Korean than English, regardless of gender, age, or generational status (early and late bilinguals did not differ). The f0 span showed a language-gender interaction: males’ span was larger in Korean, while females’ span was larger in English. This study demonstrates that languages differ in f0 independent of speaker anatomy and suggests that children may acquire these differences in early childhood.

Rates of Typical Disfluency in the Conversational Speech of 30-Month-Old Spanish-English Simultaneous Bilinguals.

The aim of this study was to investigate the typical disfluency rates at 30 months old in a large group of simultaneous bilingual children and also investigate the relationships between disfluency rates and linguistic complexity (mean length of utterance in words [MLU-W]), vocabulary diversity (VocD), and speaking rate (utterances per unit time). Fifty-three typically developing children who had been exposed to Spanish and English from birth participated in this descriptive study. The average percent input at home was 46% in English and 54% in Spanish. Outside the home, the children averaged 9 hr of exposure per week in each language. Spontaneous speech samples in both languages were obtained during play sessions between the children and a parent. Nonparametric tests revealed a significant difference in typical disfluency rates across languages, with more children being disfluent in English and with a larger range of disfluency rates in English. The effect size for this difference was small. The children had significantly higher MLU-W in English; there were no differences in VocD or speaking rate between the 2 languages. Typical disfluency rate in Spanish was not significantly correlated with MLU-W, VocD, or speaking rate. Typical disfluency rates in English were correlated with MLU-W and VocD, but not with speaking rate. This article described the typical disfluency rates of a large group of simultaneous Spanish-English bilingual children at 30 months of age. The typical disfluency rates reported here are lower than those reported in the literature for monolingual children of similar ages. Clinical implications of these findings are addressed.

Starting Age Overshadowed: The Primacy of Differential Environmental and Family Support Effects on Second Language Attainment in an Instructional Context

AbstractDespite contrary research findings, many laypeople still claim that starting second language (L2) instruction early yields linguistic advantages. This assertion is again undermined by a 5‐year longitudinal study conducted in Switzerland testing the English language skills of 636 secondary‐school students who had all learned Standard German and French at primary school, but only half of whom had learned English from age 8, the remainder having started English 5 years later. The results suggest that age‐related attainment effects are overshadowed by other effects, yielding diverse outcomes according to individual differences and contextual effects mediating L2 outcomes. An earlier age of learning proved beneficial only for children raised as biliterate simultaneous bilinguals receiving substantial parental support, as opposed to monolinguals and nonbiliterate bilinguals (simultaneous or sequential). These issues require studies that explore what underlies age effects in L2 learning and investigate how learning contexts shape processes of L2 development.

Language acquisition and linguistic theory: When linguistic theory meets empirical data

Abstract This Special Issue brings together the current work of well-established and well-known researchers in the field of language acquisition from a formal approach across several languages and of bilingual acquisition (2L1 and adult simultaneous and successive bilinguals), focusing on the syntax, semantics and pragmatics of different linguistic phenomena. Specifically, the four papers that will encompass this Special Issue together with an afterword paper written by a leading researcher in the field, Itziar Laka, discuss two main issues for current linguistic theory, both related, in this discussion, to Spanish: on the one hand, how do data and phenomena from the acquisition of different Romance languages inform and shape generative linguistic theory? And, on the other, how does generative linguistic theory frame and constrain research on the acquisition of Romance languages? To that end, divergent bilingual populations are used in these studies, which present longitudinal or cross-sectional data using a diverse range of methodologies (more on this within the individual summaries).