What is the Language acquisition in bilingual children?

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Language Acquisition in Bilingual Children

Differentiated Language Systems in Bilingual Children

Research indicates that bilingual children develop differentiated language systems from an early age. Studies on bilingual 2-year-olds show that these children have distinct grammatical systems for each language they are learning, with no evidence of transfer, acceleration, or delay in acquisition. This supports the hypothesis that their grammars are acquired autonomously. This autonomous development is further supported by findings that bilingual children can distinguish between two different lexicons and syntactic rules as they grow, eventually developing two fully differentiated linguistic codes.

Stages of Bilingual Language Development

The process of becoming bilingual can be divided into three stages. Initially, children have a single lexical system that includes words from both languages. As they progress, they begin to distinguish between two different lexicons but still apply the same syntactic rules to both languages. Finally, they develop two separate linguistic codes, each associated with the person using that language. Only when this categorization of people by language decreases can a child be considered truly bilingual.

Cognitive Mechanisms and Language Processing

Bilingual children develop unique cognitive mechanisms to manage their two languages. They create activation and inhibitory links at the lexical and morphological levels, enabling them to select words and their syntactic characters correctly. This ability to manage two languages involves complex neural networks that segregate the new language from the native one, highlighting the dynamic nature of bilingual language acquisition.

Influence of Language Contact and Developmental Differences

Bilingual children’s language development is influenced by the interaction between their two languages. Empirical evidence suggests that while bilingual children develop differently from monolinguals, their languages remain separate systems. However, mutual influence between the two languages can occur, leading to phenomena similar to those observed in contact varieties like Singapore Colloquial English. This interaction can result in substrate influence, where features from one language affect the other, contributing to the convergence of languages in contact.

Vocabulary and Grammar Development

Comparative studies show that monolingual children are generally more advanced in vocabulary and grammar in single language comparisons. However, bilingually developing children perform comparably when total vocabulary is measured. The relative amount of input in each language significantly affects vocabulary and grammar development in bilingual children. This highlights the importance of language exposure in bilingual development.

Early Perception and Comprehension

Emerging research on preverbal bilingual infants shows that they use surface acoustic information to separate, categorize, and begin learning their two languages. This ability to process and differentiate between two languages from an early age invites the expansion of linguistic theories to account for bilingual acquisition.

Challenges in Assessing Bilingual Development

Assessing bilingual children’s lexical development poses challenges due to the lack of standardized instruments that adequately capture their abilities. Norms based on monolingual experience often underestimate bilingual children’s knowledge. Double-language measures are an improvement but still do not address the complexity of bilingual mental representations. There is a need for norms derived from observations of typically developing bilingual children to provide a more accurate assessment.

Conclusion

Bilingual language acquisition is a complex, dynamic process that involves the development of differentiated language systems, unique cognitive mechanisms, and significant interaction between the two languages. While bilingual children may show different developmental trajectories compared to monolinguals, their ability to manage and use two languages effectively highlights the remarkable adaptability of the human brain. Understanding these processes better can inform educational practices and assessment methods, ultimately supporting bilingual children’s language development.