Virginia Volterra

The acquisition and development of language by bilingual children

Analysing the gradual learning process through which a child becomes bilingual from early infancy, three stages can be distinguished: (1) the child has one lexical system which includes words from both languages; (2) the child distinguishes two different lexicons but applies the same syntactic rules to both languages; (3) the child has two linguistic codes, differentiated both in lexicon and in syntax, but each language is exclusively associated with the person using that language. Only at the end of this stage, when the tendency to categorize people in terms of their language decreases, can one say that a child is truly bilingual.

A parent report instrument for early language assessment

A structured questionnaire for evaluating the level of communicative and linguistic development at 12, 16 and 20 months of age respectively was administered to the parents of 23 children for three different assessments. For a subsample of 14 subjects the questionnaire was filled in by the parents and by a trained observer in a two-hour observational session at home. The aim of the study was two-fold: (a) to verify the validity of the instrument and specifically its predictive validity; (b) to verify the reliability of the information given by parents through a direct comparison between the data in the questionnaire filled in by the parents and the data in the same questionnaire filled in by the observer. Results show that, on the basis of measures reported at 12 months, the instrument can predict linguistic development at 20 months as evaluated by means of a Vocabulary Checklist. Furthermore, the pattern of communicative and linguistic development reported by parents is consistent with that reported by the observer. Finally, the samples lexical development exhibits a wide range of individual variation, with lexicons consisting of about 8 to 628 different words at 20 months of age.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COGNITION, COMMUNICATION, AND QUALITY OF ATTACHMENT

This chapter focuses on relationships between cognition, communication, and quality of attachment. Social and cognitive development are inextricably intertwined: Without being able to interpret the behavior of social companions, one cannot respond to them appropriately; and interpreting the meaning of behavior in turn requires cognitive processes at some level. Attachment theory emphasizes the role of the mother as a source of security. The infants propensity to seek proximity to the mother or other major caregiver—at first excercised by signaling behavior and later by locomotor following and approach—is seen as fulfilling a protective function. A curious infant who has a tendency to remain in fairly close proximity to the mother is less likely to come to harm than an infant who pays no heed to the whereabouts of his or her caregiver. For infants whose mothers vary greatly in how effectively and how intensively they stimulate their infants verbally and/or through play with toys and other interesting objects, the maternal input may overshadow gains which the infants may also be making through their own discoveries.

Chapter 3 – COGNITION AND COMMUNICATION FROM NINE TO THIRTEEN MONTHS: CORRELATIONAL FINDINGS

Publisher Summary nThe correlational results for gestural development suggest that there is a Gestural Complex developing between 9 and 13 months, reflected in giving, showing, communicative pointing, and ritual requests. If one contrasts the measures that do correlate with this complex with the measures that do not, it seems that the Gestural Complex involves: (1) the use of conventional signals with, (2) communicative intent, and possibly (3) reference to some external object or event other than the childs own ability to “show off.” In general, gestural development seems to involve expansion of the repertoire from 9 to 13 months. However, there is some evidence that more ritualized requests and refusals are replacing unritualized versions of those two functions. Within language development, there is also a language complex emerging from 9 to 13 months, indicating some sort of interdependence between comprehension and both referential and nonreferential production. Furthermore, language development in this age range consists primarily of expanding the repertoire.

Chapter 4 – FIRST WORDS IN LANGUAGE AND ACTION: A QUALITATIVE LOOK

Publisher Summary nStrong correspondences have been found between symbol development in play and language in three aspects: (1) correlations in frequency and rate, (2) overlap in referential content, and (3) parallels in qualitative levels and sequences of development. Within language, a developmental progression has been found from what is termed “nonreferential” to “referential” uses of words. The nonreferential words are not names for actions or entities; rather, they are procedures that are used in restricted contexts that may include particular actions or entities. At each developmental level, the difference between substantives and function words has to do with the kinds of referents—entities, events, relationships—involved in that language game or procedure. However, both kinds of words are in themselves functions. The field of child language research has been divided regarding: (1) the developmental levels of word use—that is, in terms of contextual freedom, (2) the kinds of features that predominate in the rules for using words, (3) the structure of the categories that underlie word use, and (4) individual differences in the things that children want to accomplish with words.

La adquisición y el desarrollo del lenguaje en niños bilingües

ResumenSe analizo el proceso de aprendizaje gradual mediante el que un nino llega a ser bilingue desde la temprana infancia, distinguiendose tres estadios: (1) el nino tiene un unico sistema lexical que incluye palabras de ambas lenguas; (2) el nino distingue dos lexicos diferentes pero aplica las mismas reglas sintacticas a ambas lenguas; (3) el nino posee dos codigos linguisticos, diferenciados tanto en lexico como en sintaxis, pero cada lengua esta asociada exclusivamente con la persona que la usa. Solo al final de este estadio, cuando decrece la tendencia a categorizer a las personas en funcion de su lengua, puede decirse que el nino es verdaderamente bilingue.