Bilingual Acquisition

Theoretical Implications of a Case Study
Erscheinungsjahr 2001
ISBN: 978-0-19-829973-8
Verlag: OUP Oxford

Buch, Englisch, 176 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 278 g

This book aims to explore the implications for language acquisition theory of a case study in bilingual acquisition. The subject is a child who acquired English and Spanish from birth, and the analysis focuses on various aspects of her language development during the second year of her life.

The authors analyse aspects of the development of her sound system, her vocabulary, her early syntax, and her ability to choose languages appropriately. They discuss issues such as: What are the important cues used by children when acquiring contrasts in their sound systems? How are the sound systems from two languages differentiated by children? Is it possible for children to have two words meaning the same thing in their early vocabulary? Is it possible to identify two linguistic systems in the early two-word utterances of bilinguals? How early are children able to make appropriate language choices?

This study is unusual in that it focuses on a bilingual child under the age of two. The methodology of data collection is fully discussed, and the book includes a extensive lists of the child's words in English and Spanish, as well as her two-word utterances.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Deuchar, Margaret

Quay, Suzanne

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Spracherwerb, Sprachentwicklung
• Geisteswissenschaften Sprachwissenschaft Mehrsprachigkeit

Über Autor(innen)

Margaret Deuchar is Senior Lecturer in Linguistics at the University of Wales, Bangor. After obtaining her undergraduate degree at the University of Cambridge and her Ph.D. at Stanford University in California, she held posts at the universities of Lancaster, Sussex, and Cambridge before moving to Bangor. Previous books include English Grammar for Today (Macmillan 1982, with co-authors Geoffrey Leech and Robert Hoogenraad), British Sign Language (Routledge 1984), and New Horizons in Linguistics (Penguin 1987, with co-editors John Lyons, Richard Coates, and Gerald Gazdar).

Suzanne Quay is Associate Professor of International Communication and Linguistics at the International Christian University in Tokyo. She obtained her undergraduate degree at the University of British Columbia, and her M.Phil. and Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge. She has done research not only in early child bilingualism, but also in the area of deaf education. She has published articles in various journals in these areas and is currently investigating multilingual and multicultural development in international families.