TY - JOUR
T1 - A gateway to complexity: A cross-linguistic comparison of child bilingual speech
AU - Endesfelder Quick, Antje
AU - Gaskins, Dorota Katarzyna
AU - Bailleul, Oksana
AU - Frick, Maria
AU - Palola, Elina
PY - 2020/8
Y1 - 2020/8
N2 - Objectives This study investigates monolingual and code-mixed utterances in four bilingual children with different language combinations (German–English, English–Polish, Finnish–English, and French–Russian) in terms of utterance lengths (MLUs) and complexities offering a usage-based (UB) explanation based on cognitive mechanisms. Methodology Utterances from four different child bilingual corpora were extracted and coded for individual monolingual languages and bilingual utterances. Data and analysis 35.441 utterances between the age of 2–4 were analyzed in terms of MLU and syntactic complexity. Findings/conclusions Results showed that for all children monolingual MLUs and complexities reflect their input situations: the more input in one language, the longer and more complex those utterances were. However, in all four children code-mixed utterances were longer and more complex from the beginning of the recordings. Implications This is the first study that systematically compares MLU scores and complexities of monolingual and bilingual utterances taking diverse language combinations into account and offering a UB explanation based on chunking and entrenchment processes as a new alternative for further research in bilingualism.
AB - Objectives This study investigates monolingual and code-mixed utterances in four bilingual children with different language combinations (German–English, English–Polish, Finnish–English, and French–Russian) in terms of utterance lengths (MLUs) and complexities offering a usage-based (UB) explanation based on cognitive mechanisms. Methodology Utterances from four different child bilingual corpora were extracted and coded for individual monolingual languages and bilingual utterances. Data and analysis 35.441 utterances between the age of 2–4 were analyzed in terms of MLU and syntactic complexity. Findings/conclusions Results showed that for all children monolingual MLUs and complexities reflect their input situations: the more input in one language, the longer and more complex those utterances were. However, in all four children code-mixed utterances were longer and more complex from the beginning of the recordings. Implications This is the first study that systematically compares MLU scores and complexities of monolingual and bilingual utterances taking diverse language combinations into account and offering a UB explanation based on chunking and entrenchment processes as a new alternative for further research in bilingualism.
M3 - Article
SN - 1367-0069
JO - International Journal of Bilingualism
JF - International Journal of Bilingualism
ER -