Bilingual first language acquisition: the nature of the weak language and the role of the input
Year: 2011
Type: dissertation
Abstract: This thesis investigates the development of the weak language in early bilingual\nlanguage acquisition and its results are based on longitudinal and experimental data\nfrom 4 Italian-English bilingual children and their parents.\nThe purpose of this thesis is twofold: firstly, to present a new method to assess weak\nlanguage development and the role of the input in bilingual first language\nacquisition; secondly, to determine whether there is a relationship between input,\nweak language development and the acquisition of new information structure.\nThe factors included in the analysis of the weak language are rate of acquisition,\nproduction of target-deviant forms, vocabulary, MLU and discourse pragmatics. The\nresults are summarised in the Weak Language Scale. The results are further tested by\nexamining longitudinal and experimental data which are used to test the hypothesis\nthat children who develop Italian as a weak language have difficulty processing\nsubject inversion structures, which require a high processing load due to the\ninterface between syntax and pragmatics.\nThe results of the Weak Language Scale are then compared to those of the Input\nScale, which represents the amount of qualitative and quantitative input each child\nhas been exposed to.\nThe final results show that the input plays a major role in bilingual first language\nacquisition and it has an effect on weak language development. The findings also\nsuggest that linguistic properties at the interface between syntax and pragmatics are\nharder to process for children who develop Italian as a weak language.
Author: Francesca La Morgia
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W24704207