Trilingual Development Research Articles

Caretaker input and trilingual development of Mandarin, Cantonese and English in early childhood (1;6-2;11)

ABSTRACT Early trilingual development is an excellent testing ground for input reduction effects on acquisition outcomes. This article reports a study investigating input-outcome relations in a child Leo in Hong Kong, who was addressed to in Mandarin, Cantonese and later also in English by caretakers through ‘one caretaker-one language’ and ‘one day-one language’ practices. Caretaker-child interactions were recorded monthly from 1;6 to 2;11 and compared with monolingual baselines in grammatical complexity, lexical diversity and verb morphology. Receptive vocabulary tests were administered at 3;1. Results show that Leo, having accumulated 54%, 26% and 20% of his total input in Mandarin, Cantonese and English respectively from birth to three, demonstrated monolingual-like development in Mandarin and surprisingly, also in Cantonese in most lexical and grammatical measures. Hearing English primarily from non-native speakers, Leo was able to match monolinguals in receptive vocabulary and develop productive morphosyntax in English. The findings suggest that language distance and similarity should be taken into consideration in predicting developmental rates and outcomes of specific languages in trilingual development, and that the role of language input from non-native speakers in the acquisition of a third language warrants further examination.

Methods of Teaching Bilingual and Trilingual Children

This article shed light on language training of bilingual and trilingual children, relationship between bilingualism / trilingualism and cognitive development, and also general principles of language teaching in multilingual regions. In the neuroscience of the last decade, it has been shown that bilingualism and multilinguism positively affect brain development and slow down the onset of cognitive decline; but, according to available scientific data, there is no significant difference in neuropsychological status of bilingual and trilingual children. Most of modern societies are increasingly characterized as multilingual. Linguists underline that modern linguistics has moved towards trilingualism and even multilingualism from bilingualism. This situation raises new questions about strategies for language teaching of bilingual and trilingual children. The most effective methods of language training for multilinguals nowadays match with methods for bilinguals that are presented predominantly by communicative approach, transcultural learning, methods of active listening, and those for overcoming lexico-semantic interference. The extent and the content of input in bilingual and trilingual development also significantly influence the positive effect of bilingual and multilingual education.

Einige Bemerkungen zur dreisprachigen Erziehung (Polnisch-Esperanto-Deutsch) meiner Kinder

The article contains some remarks concerning the trilingual development of my two children. Research on children’s language development and bilingualism has been known mainly in historic natural languages studies. So far, international auxiliary languages like Esperanto have been hardly considered so far in the research on language acquisition. Including Esperanto in such considerations yields valuable insight and findings. Interference and other peculiarities of Polish, German and Esperanto in the earlier period of language acquisition are illustrated with the aid of examples collected by the author of this article. Examples are related to spelling, vocabulary, morphology, syntax and semantics.

Less is More in Hong Kong: Investigation of Biscriptal and Trilingual Development Among Chinese Twins in a (Relatively) Small City.

One salient characteristic of twin studies and the related behavioral genetics paradigm is the requirement of a large sample size. Countries or regions that are large in size and highly populated are at an advantage when implementing twin studies. However, given the fascinating and promising results obtained from twin studies, many researchers based in smaller countries or regions may still want to conduct twin studies in order to address local and theoretical issues. In this article, we have outlined the development of twin studies in Hong Kong, one of the Special Administrative Regions of China. The historical development and design of the two major twin studies of language and reading development implemented within Hong Kong are discussed, providing insights to researchers who also aspire to conduct twin studies in small regions.

Trilingual toddlers at daycare centres: the role of caregivers and peers in language development

In two case studies of trilingual development in the home, it was not the home languages that were the strongest but the language of the respective daycare centres. This paper investigates, first, how well the trilingual children could separate their daycare language from their home languages. Then it explores the kinds of communicative interaction in the daycare setting that promote language development. Data were collected at Japanese daycare centres for a trilingual German–English–Japanese boy from ages 1;1 to 1;10 and for a trilingual Chinese–English–Japanese girl from ages 2;0 to 2;4. Both children demonstrated discourse separation by using more than 90% Japanese in the daycare environment. Notably, two recurring discourse patterns were found in the input – the use of gesture-supported speech and onomatopoeic expressions. Both types of input make communication more transparent for language-learning toddlers. This study of trilingual children in the daycare environment demonstrates that: (1) having fewer opportunities to communicate in multi-party conditions in daycare environments does not necessarily impede language development; and (2) receiving higher levels of caregiver than peer speech does not mean that peers have no role in supporting trilingual children's language development.

Translation Equivalents and the Emergence of Multiple Lexicons in Early Trilingual Development

This study examines lexical differentiation in early trilingual development through an analysis of the translation equivalents (TEs) produced by a Tagalog—Spanish—English trilingual child. The child’s cumulative vocabulary between 1;4 and 2;0 was reconstructed through diary records and audio-recordings, and the extent to which phonetically distinct equivalent doublets and triplets were represented in her cumulative lexicon was examined. The results indicate that TEs were produced from early on, similarly to bilingual children. However, the amount of input heard in each language determined the number and types of equivalents acquired. Also, learning a second TE took less time than learning a first, suggesting that the initial differentiation of the lexicon as evidenced by doublets might facilitate the emergence of multiple lexical systems.

Multi-word combinations and the emergence of differentiated ordering patterns in early trilingual development

This study examines word order differentiation in early trilingual development through an analysis of the combinations produced by a Tagalog–Spanish–English trilingual child with an MLU of less than 1.5. Same- and mixed-language combinations were tracked down from diary data and weekly recordings to assess (i) whether word order significantly varied cross-linguistically, and (ii) whether mixed utterances originated from vocabulary gaps rather than from an undifferentiated syntax. The results indicate that (a) argument/predicate sequences were differentially ordered depending on their language and following input-dependent preferences, (b) mixed utterances were generally caused by vocabulary gaps, and (c) they displayed the same order as those single-language combinations produced in the same language context. These findings suggest that evidence for early word order differentiation can be found before the appearance of inflectional morphology and even when three – rather than two – languages are being acquired, indicating that trilingual exposure does not slow down the process of differentiation.

Pragmatic differentiation in early trilingual development

This study examines pragmatic differentiation in early trilingual development through a longitudinal analysis of language choice in a developing Tagalog-Spanish-English trilingual child. The child's patterns of language choice with different language users are analyzed at age 1 ; 10 and 2 ; 4 to examine: (1) whether evidence for pragmatic differentiation can be found even before age two and in simultaneous interactions with distinct language users; (2) whether lexical gaps determine the child's choice of one language over another; and (3) whether her patterns of language choice are affected by the interlocutors language use and their responses to mixing. The results indicate that the child was capable of selecting the appropriate language according to the interlocutors' language from the earliest sessions. However, switches to inappropriate languages were common due to vocabulary gaps, the interlocutors' acceptance of mixing and the possibilities determined by the existence of multiple lexical resources and multiple language users.

Instructional Conditions for Trilingual Development

This paper outlines a framework for academic language learning that highlights the importance of focusing instructionally on meaning, language, and use. Academic language learning refers to the learning of the language registers in L1, L2 or L3 required to function successfully in school contexts where these languages are being used for instruction of academic content. As such, knowledge of academic language is intertwined with both the concepts taught in school and the cognitive processes required to carry out academic tasks. The research reviewed in the paper suggests that in order to develop students' academic language proficiency in bilingual or trilingual contexts, instruction must focus extensively on the processing of comprehensible input (meaning). This will entail encouraging students to read extensively in the target language in an increasing range of genres. Additionally, however, there is an important place for focusing on language itself in order to demystify how language works, explore cross-linguistic relationships, and develop students' awareness of the intersections of language and power in human discourse. Finally, actual use of the target language in oral and written modes consolidates the internalisation of the code and enables students to express their identities and intelligence in powerful ways through the language.