In situations of language endangerment, the ability to understand a language tends to persevere longer than the ability to speak it. As a result, the possibility of language revival remains high even when few speakers remain. Nonetheless, this potential requires that those with high levels of comprehension received sufficient input as children for…

A comparison of the performance of age- and intelligence-matched bilingual (n=46) and monolingual (n=38) six- and seven-year olds on the Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities indicated that the bilinguals had significantly inferior performance in tests of the visual-motor channel, analogous auditory-vocal tests, and representative level. (18…

A study based on monthly recordings of one bilingual child exposed to English and German suggests that, contrary to earlier research, the acquisition of sociolinguistic rules appears to precede the acquisition of structural rules. The assumption that linguistic sophistication is necessary for children to understand that they are exposed to two…

A study exploring the relationship between language-related attitudes of English-speaking immigrants in Israel and their choice of their native language or Hebrew for communication with their Israeli-born children showed that lack of proficiency in Hebrew just as often encouraged parents to choose that language as their child's native language.…

The language development of a Finnish-English bilingual child was studied, with focus on the relationship between the developmental patterns of language loss in bilingual situations and the variations in input factors, including social, emotional, and attitudinal factors. Findings suggest the importance of linguistic input outside the home. (17…

Examines code-switching and code-mixing behavior of a child learning English and Cantonese simultaneously. The choice of code was dependant on socialization, and code-mixing was dependent on base language. (14 references) (LT)

An investigation into the linguistic adaptation process of foreign children adopted by Dutch-speaking families in Belgium identified a short, early adaptation period followed by a period of further acquisition, with marked differences between children younger and older than three years. (Author/CB)

Exploration of the extent to which acculturation may be related to classroom second-language acquisition in Turkish immigrant children reared in the Netherlands found that the relationship was significant and positive, but not really high. (Author/CB)

Using Scotton's model of codeswitching based on markedness theory, this paper examines a type of register variation known as "babytalk," defined as ambiguous talk of babies or young children and talk to babies or young children. It is argued that babytalk and the voice of authority are motivated by Chinese cultural assumptions about…

Examines patterns of language choice and code-switching behavior in the discourse of 10 families whose primary home language is Mandarin Chinese. Study results are interpreted with respect to parents' and children's differential tendencies to accommodate their speech to their interlocutor, and implications for the maintenance of minority home…

Describes one aspect of a Welsh/English bilingual child being raised in England. The father is a native speaker of Welsh, and the mother has learned Welsh in order to speak it to her son. The father accommodates both the mother's and the child's linguistic errors. Areas of accommodation are identified and possible reasons discussed. (Author/LMO)

Analysis of the responses of monolingual Dutch and bilingual Turkish, Moroccan, and Surinamese children living in the Netherlands to word association and sorting tasks revealed no significant differences among the groups. Results of the study indicated that bilingualism does not affect cognitive-linguistic development. (22 references) (Author/VWL)

Discusses findings from an empirical investigation of the effects of bilingualism (Spanish-English) on the creativity of language minority children in terms of the cognitive processes of divergent and convergent thinking, and the linguistic process of metaphorizing in the context of formulating scientific hypotheses. (Author/CB)

Children from the German minority in Denmark were studied as part of a longitudinal sociolinguistic research project. Most spoke the Jutland (a Danish) dialect and picked up German as a second language when they started preschool, resulting in code-switching and interference in some cases, which appear to be manifestations of linguistic creativity…