Background: Bilingual assessment is particularly difficult in the very first period of children's second language (L2) exposure. This exploratory, longitudinal study examined L2 learning after 1 and 2 years of L2 exposure by young immigrants and how it is affected by their age at first exposure to the L2 (AoE). Method: Participants were 18…

Word order is one of the earliest aspects of grammar that the child acquires, because her early utterances already respect the basic word order of the target language. However, the question of the nature of early syntactic representations is subject to debate. Approaches inspired by formal syntax assume that the head-complement order,…

This dissertation investigates typological patterns of syntax and morphosyntax, and the role that learning biases play in constraining them. A link between learning biases and typology is integral to generative linguistics, however evidence for this connection remains minimal. Using experimental, theoretical, and mathematical tools, I provide…

During the first year of life, infants begin to have difficulties perceiving non-native vowel and consonant contrasts, thus adapting their perception to the phonetic categories of the target language. In this paper, we examine the perception of a non-segmental feature, i.e. stress. Previous research with adults has shown that speakers of French (a…

This paper presents evidence from a French-English bilingual child between the ages of two years three months and three years five months, growing up bilingually from birth, with a French mother and English father in an English speaking environment. In focussing upon questions in the child's two languages, and charting in some detail the emergence…

Examines how children understand the argumentative function of the French connective meme (even). Two completion tasks, related to the argumentative properties of the morpheme, were used: 1) to infer the conclusion of an "even" sentence, and 2) to infer the argument position. (34 references) (Author/CB)

Examines onset, atrophy, and possible interaction of a set of patterns in the speech of a child acquiring French and English. Examines how data bear on the question of whether the bilingual child has two distinct production phonologies from the earliest stage. Tests recent claims consonant harmony patterns. (Author/VWL)

An analysis of gender attribution in native and second-language French acquisition shows how learners can develop explicit models of acquisition and explores the nature of the cognitive processes involved in encoding representations of acquired language. (105 references) (Author/CB)

A study of the acquisition of interrogative forms in children of high socioeconomic status reveals that utterances belong more to the colloquial than to the standard range. It is concluded that disadvantaged children would show similar usage, leading to the suggestion that teachers teach language as they use it. (Text is in French.) (CDSH/CLK)

It is suggested that although patterns learned as a part of native language acquisition may interfere with learning a second language, the use of metalanguages may promote an understanding of the native language that in turn contributes to learning others. Specific examples of classroom exercises are included. (MSE)

A study examined language socialization in Dominica (West Indies), focusing on the use of a French-based creole, Patwa, in a situation of linguistic and social change. Despite claims that Patwa is integral to Dominican identity, rural caregivers choose to speak English to language-learning children, contributing to rapid attrition of Patwa.…

We present a hypothesis for a specific kind of code-mixing in young bilingual children, during the development of their two first languages, one of which is considerably weaker than the other. Our hypothesis, which we label the Ivy Hypothesis, is that, in the interaction meant to be in the weaker language, the child uses portions of higher…

A study designed to examine the variation that occurs in the request production of children between the ages of 6 and 7 observed the kind of requests children make, what they request, whom they ask, and how they formulate their ideas. Twenty native French-speaking children divided into two age groups (6- and 7-year-olds) were asked to complete two…

Analysis of French spoken by French girls aged 11-12 years found that, unlike older counterparts, theirs shows variable linguistic behavior on the phonological level that suggests avoidance of vernacular forms, the "sociolinguistic gender pattern." However, one speaker's discourse shows manipulation of conversational tone comparable to adult…