Bilingualism in Infancy Flashcards
Bilingual
Gradient of definitions:
- Ability to speak without accent in two languages
- Ability to communicate in two languages
- Ability to understand two languages
Bilingual Infant
Bilingual First Language Acquisition (BFLA): The learning of two languages simultaneously from birth (aka crib bilinguals or simultaneous bilinguals)
- Minimum 25% exposure to each language
- Multitude of sources
Bilingual Language Development
Two set of sounds
- Monolingual babies: discriminate sounds from the world’s languages at 4-6months, by 10-12 months ONLY discriminate sounds from their native language
- Bilingual babies: discriminate sounds from the world’s languages at 4-6 moths, by 10-12 months discriminate sounds from BOTH of their native languages
- Two set of words
- Two grammars
- Two sets of cultural norms (Biculturalism)
Bilingual Newborns
- Prefer both of their native languages at birth
- But are able to keep them distinct (discriminate)
- Bilingual infants can learn two sets of transitional probabilities better than monolingual infants
The “Adaptation Hypothesis”
Adults: Enhanced executive function (EF)
- Inhibitory control
- Task Switching
- Attentional allocation
Bilingual babies shows an advantage over monolingual babies
Several studies have replicated the bilingual advantage in attention type task
- Others have failed to replicate the bilingual advantage finding
- A meta-analysis published this year indicated that overall, the effect is there
Problem of Reference
A classic problem: How someone who does not know the word “rabbit” could figure out exactly what it refers to
Word Learning
- Whole Object assumption: expectation that the word will refer to the whole object
- Categorical Scope: expectation that the word will refer to the entire category of objects
Overall Summary
- Bilingual infants achieve milestones in acquisition at the same ages as monolinguals
- They keep their languages apart in use
- Perceptual cues help them distinguish
- Both monolingual and bilingual infants show a pattern most beneficial to their language learning context
- But, there may be some advantages in perceptual sensitive that accrue w/ bilingualism
Domain Language
Language of higher proficiency