The research for this dissertation is focused on the following two issues: (1) Can bilingual child language development be considered as 'two monolinguals in one', and (2) Can bilingual child language contribute uniquely to our understanding of the acquisition process in all children? Three studies examining functional categories in the grammatical development of bilingual and second language children were conducted in order to address these questions. / Study 1 investigates potential interference between the developing grammars of three French-English bilingual children. Naturalistic production data were collected from the children at six month intervals between approximately 2;0 and 3;0 years of age. The data were examined for the children's acquisition of INFL and these results were compared with extant findings for monolingual French and English speaking children. The results indicate that these bilingual children showed no evidence of transfer, acceleration. or delay in acquisition and support the hypothesis that their grammars are acquired autonomously and like those of monolinguals. / The principle focus of Study 2 is an investigation of the continuity debate on functional category acquisition through an analysis of bilingual language development. In this study, the acquisition of INFL and DET by two French-English bilingual children was examined. These children were at an earlier stage of syntactic development than those in Study 1. Naturalistic production data were collected at two month intervals from the children, between approximately 2;0 to 3;0 years of age. The analyses indicate that INFL appeared at different times in the children's languages; whereas, DET appeared at the same time. The results are discussed with respect to the maturation and continuity views on the acquisition of functional categories. Because of the between-language discrepancy in the emergence of INFL, it is argued that these findings support a continuity perspective. It is also argued that bilingual first language acquisition provides unique evidence bearing on the continuity debate. / The principal focus of Study 3 is also the continuity debate on functional category acquisition, but in contrast to Study 2, the children in this study were second language learners. In this study, the acquisition of features within INFL, agreement and tense, were examined separately to determine if they are acquired in sequence. Fifteen English-speaking learners of French and five monolingual francophone grade-mates. participated in the study. A structured oral interview was given annually to each of the children from grade one to grade three, and the transcripts were analysed for the use of tense and agreement. The results revealed that items encoding agreement emerged before items encoding tense in the second language learners' speech, suggesting that these features emerge in sequence in their grammars. The findings are interpreted with respect to three prevailing views on continuity in the acquisition of functional phrase structure in second language acquisition. It is argued that a weak continuity position is best supported by the data.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Psychology, 1983. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 361-376).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 676-721). Also available by subscription via World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.A.)--Youngstown State University, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-56).

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 59-63).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2002. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 147-169). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (M. Soc. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 39-43).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Project (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Instructional Psychology and Technology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 48-49).