A dissertation submitted to The Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology School of Human and Community Development Faculty of Humanities University of the Witwatersrand In fulfilment of the requirements of the degree Master of Arts in Speech-Pathology March, 2017 / Purpose: There is a need to develop and refine assessment measures on bilingual children, since language measures used on monolingual individuals cannot and should not be directly applied to the bilingual population (Hoff et al., 2012; O’Brien, 2015). The occurrence of Afrikaans-English bilinguals in South Africa provides a rewarding area of investigation for the Speech-Language Therapist (SLT) (Penn & Jordaan, 2016), as the Afrikaans language is well-researched and many individuals from this population are considered to be more balanced bilinguals than other bilingual groups (Coetzee-Van Rooyen, 2013).The assessment of vocabulary in bilingual children has received particular attention because limited vocabulary is one of the first signs of language impairment (Ellis & Thal, 2008). This research aimed to determine how Grade 1 Afrikaans-English bilingual children perform on a bilingual vocabulary assessment. Design: A quantitative, descriptive, cross-sectional and comparative design was used in this study. Method: The Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test 4 (EOWPVT-4) (Martin & Brownell, 2011a) and the Receptive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test 4 (ROWPVT-4) (Martin & Brownell, 2011b) were used to assess 30 grade 1 Englishspeaking monolinguals. In addition an adapted Afrikaans expressive one word vocabulary test based on the EOWPVT-4 and an adapted Afrikaans receptive one word vocabulary test based on the ROWPVT-4 were used to assess 30 grade 1 Afrikaans-English bilinguals. Permission from the schools involved, informed consent from the parent/s or guardian/s as well as child assent were obtained. The data gathered from testing was tabulated, interpreted with the use of mean scores and standard deviations (SD) and analysed using within- and between -group statistical comparisons. Mean raw scores were converted to percentages for ease of comparison between receptive and expressive scores. Results: Within-language comparisons revealed that on the English test, receptive and expressive scores within both the English monolingual and bilingual groups were significantly correlated. Expressive scores could therefore be predicted from receptive scores or vice versa in both the English monolingual and bilingual groups. However, the receptive and expressive score on the Afrikaans tests were not significantly correlated. In the bilingual group, the receptive score in Afrikaans was significantly higher than the expressive score suggesting that although the bilingual participants had good knowledge of Afrikaans vocabulary they could not always express this in a naming test. They frequently used the English word. Afrikaans is possibly being used less in the home and school environments so that the English words are more familiar. Nonetheless, both the monolingual and bilingual participants had significantly higher scores on the receptive vocabulary assessment than on the expressive vocabulary assessments in both English and Afrikaans. Between-group comparison revealed that the differences between the scores of the English monolingual and Afrikaans-English bilingual learners were not significant on either the receptive or expressive vocabulary measure in English. The bilingual group performed as well as the English participants on the English tests, suggesting that they are not disadvantaged in the language of instruction. The norms used in the EOWPVT and the ROWPVT were applicable to both the monolingual and bilingual groups’ scores for the age range of the participants and highlighted that these tests were suitable in assessing an English monolingual and Afrikaans-English bilingual child in South Africa. When composite scoring was used the bilinguals scored significantly better than their monolingual peers on both the receptive and expressive measures, which confirmed the premise behind this study- that composite scoring should be used to gain an accurate assessment of a bilingual child’s vocabulary. Adaptation of the English tests into Afrikaans, as opposed to O’Brien’s study (2015), which adapted English tests into isiZulu, may have positively affected the results as all English words had direct translation equivalents in Afrikaans, which was not the case in isiZulu. The comparison between simultaneous and sequential bilinguals within the bilingual group demonstrated that the simultaneous bilinguals’ mean receptive and expressive scores surpassed those obtained by the sequential bilingual participants. A significant difference was identified between simultaneous and sequential bilinguals’ composite receptive scores and Afrikaans expressive scores. Finally, only one monolingual participant scored below the peer group mean on both the receptive and expressive vocabulary tests, indicating low proficiency in English and risk of language impairment; however no bilingual participants were found to be language impaired when composite scoring was used. Conclusion: Bilingualism remains a rewarding area of investigation in South Africa. Afrikaans-English bilingual children performed significantly better than O’Brien’s (2015) isiZulu-English participants on a translated, originally English vocabulary test. Throughout this study the refinement of valid assessment tools for accurate description of bilingual children’s vocabulary was highlighted. The well-researched technique of composite scoring has proven to be valuable in avoiding overdiagnosis in South African bilingual children. / MT2018

The current study addressed several questions about the use of language intermingling in child-directed speech and its influence on children's English and Spanish language acquisition on children's language code-switching, Participants were 65 children (Mean age=30.93 months, SD=0.44, 28 boys and 37 girls) who had been exposed to English and Spanish from birth and for whom at least one parent was a native Spanish speaker.... Measures of the children's lexical, grammatical, receptive, and productive language development in English and in Spanish were collected concurrently.... Consistent with sociolinguistic theories that propose that language separation is necessary for heritage language maintenance, children who were exposed to more language intermingling were more English-dominant. Both sensitivity to the language context and children's language dominance were related to children's production of mixed utterances. Children code-switched more when speaking in their less proficient language and when in the context of minority language use. / by Silvia Place. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

In order to explain the development of English and Spanish skills in children from Spanish-speaking homes in the United States, it is necessary to identify their sources of language exposure. Most research to date has focused on home language use. The aim of this study is to identify sources of English and Spanish exposure outside the home that bilingual children experience between the ages of 2 and 5 years. The present study focuses on 3 potential sources: grandparents, extracurricular activities, and early childcare and education settings. We ask how much English and Spanish exposure children receive, how that changes from 2.5 to 5 years, and whether family variables influence those changes. Participants were 149 children from Spanish-speaking homes in southeastern Florida, with at least one parent an immigrant from a Spanish-speaking country. Measured out-of-home sources of input included hours per of week of English and Spanish from a Grandparent, during Extracurricular Activities, and during Preschool at 30, 36, 42, 48, and 60 months. Parents’ Native Language Background groups were either both native Spanish-speaking or one native, Spanish-speaking and one native, English-speaking. Maternal Education was treated as a dichotomous variable: mothers whose highest level of education in English is less than a four-year college degree and mothers whose highest level of education in English is equivalent to or greater than a four-year college degree. Child Birth Order was also treated as a dichotomous variable: only children and first-born children or later born children. Results revealed that for these children from Spanish-speaking homes, Grandparents are primarily a source of heritage-language (Spanish) input and Extracurricular Activities and Preschool are primarily a source of societal-language (English) input. Findings suggest English exposure from out-of-home sources increases over time possibly at the expense of Spanish exposure. Parents’ Native Language Backgrounds and Maternal Education influenced children’s exposure to both languages from these outside sources of input; Child Birth Order did not. Implications for future research and practical application are discussed. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Orientador: Alessandra Del Ré / Banca: Anne Salazar Orvig / Banca: Christelle Dodane / Banca: Marianne Carvalho Bezerra Cavalcante / Banca: Ester Mirian Scarpa / Resumo: Este trabalho trata de questões de referência pessoal/auto-referência, bem como a referência à segunda pessoa, nas duas línguas maternas de uma criança bilíngue (Francês e Português). Nossa pesquisa, que se baseia em uma abordagem dialógico-discursiva de aquisição da linguagem e considera que a criança adquire e entra na linguagem por meio dos diferentes gêneros (Bakhtin, 1988, François, 1994), tem como fundamento os estudos de expressões referenciais propostos por Salazar-Orvig et al. (2003, 2010) e a relação entre a aquisição de pronomes pessoais e auto-referência, a partir dos estudos de Morgenstern (2006). Considerando-se que em Português os verbos podem ser usados sem os pronomes pessoais, pois as desinências trazem a referência à pessoa, a questão que nos colocamos é: a aquisição de elementos de auto-referência e de referência ao interlocutor acontecem da mesma maneira quando a criança está adquirindo duas línguas ao mesmo tempo? Além de responder a esta questão, pretendemos destacar como os interlocutores fazem uso destes recursos no diálogo e de que forma eles se referem um ao outro. O uso destas marcas de referência, pelos pais e pela criança, foi estudado em um corpus longitudinal composto por 15 sessões de filmagem de uma criança bilíngue (Mar., 2;5-3;2) em interação com os pais (8 sessões com a mãe - brasileira - e 7 com pai, que é francês), no período de aproximadamente um ano. As sessões cobriram o período de enunciados de duas palavras até a sintaxe adulta. Os enunciados foram analisados de acordo com a presença dos pronomes pessoais em Português e em Francês, nomes próprios e sujeito nulo. Desinências verbais, que variam em Português de acordo com o tempo verbal e a pessoa, também foram analisadas. Resumidamente, nosso objetivo foi o de explorar a especificidade do bilinguismo em relação às questões de referência. E, como resultado principal, percebemos que ... / Abstract: Our research is based in a dialogical approach of language acquisition, which considers that a child acquires and enters in the language through the different genres (Bakhtin, 1988, François, 1994). Thus, this work is centred in questions about personal reference, as well as the reference to the second person in both first languages of a bilingual child (French and Portuguese). In sequence, we make a parallel between the bilingual child and a monolingual child in Portuguese and the bilingual with a monolingual in French, having the same reference expressions as the aim of our analysis. This study has its basis in the studies of referential expressions proposed by Salazar-Orvig et al. (2003, 2010) and about the relation between the acquisition of personal pronoun and self-reference, it will be considered the studies of Morgenstern (2006). In Portuguese, the verbs can be used without the personal pronouns, as the verbal ending makes reference to the person. The question we stake is: The acquisition of self-reference elements and the reference to the interlocutor happens in the same way when a child is learning two languages at once? Moreover, the objective is to highlight how the interlocutors make usage of these tools in the dialog, besides the way they refer to each other. The use of these marks of reference, by the parents and by a bilingual child (Mar., 2;5-3;2), was studied in one longitudinal corpus composed by 15 sections in interactions with the parents (8 sections with the mother - who is Brazilian - and 7 with the father - who is French) in the period of almost one year. Two monolingual children were recorded in a longer period but we chose the period of one year (according to the language development in the acquisition process) and we used this data to compare with the bilingual child. All the sections covered a period of statements of two words until the adult's syntax. The statements were analysed according to the ... / Doutor

Gu, Chenjie. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-168). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Contents / Acknowledgements / List of Abbreviations / List of Tables / Abstract / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Issues in Bilingual First Language Acquisition / Chapter 1.2 --- Minimal Default Grammar and Acquisition Stages in Child Language / Chapter 1.3 --- Input Ambiguity in Bilingual First Language Acquisition / Chapter 1.4 --- Organization of the Thesis / Chapter Chapter Two --- Theoretical Framework / Chapter 2.1 --- Dative Constructions in English and Cantonese / Chapter 2.1.1 --- English Dative Constructions / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Cantonese Dative Constructions / Chapter 2.1.3 --- The Syntax and Semantics of Dative Constructions / Chapter 2.1.3.1 --- Larson (1988): VP Shell / Chapter 2.1.3.2 --- Decomposing Dative Verbs / Chapter 2.1.3.3 --- English Double Object Datives as Low Applicative Constructions / Chapter 2.2 --- Previous Acquisition Studies on Dative Constructions / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Chan (2003): Acquisition of Cantonese Inverted Double Object Datives / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Snyder and Stromswold (1997): Acquisition Order and Parameter Setting / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Viau (2006): Lexical Decomposition and Primitives in Acquisition / Chapter Chapter Three --- "Acquisition Tasks, Hypotheses and Methodology" / Chapter 3.1 --- Acquisition Task for Bilingual Children / Chapter 3.1.1 --- Acquisition of English Dative Constructions / Chapter 3.1.2 --- Acquisition of Cantonese Dative Constructions / Chapter 3.1.3 --- Possible Areas of Crosslinguistic Influence in Bilingual Acquisition / Chapter 3.2 --- Methodology / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Cantonese-English Bilingual Children: The Hong Long Bilingual Child Language Corpus / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Monolingual English-speaking Children / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Monolingual Cantonese-speaking Children: The Hong Kong Cantonese Child Language Corpus (CANCORP) / Chapter 3.2.4 --- Measure for Acquisition / Chapter Chapter Four --- The Acquisition of English Dative Constructions / Chapter 4.1 --- Order of Emergence of Double Object Datives and Prepositional Datives / Chapter 4.2 --- The Acquisition of To-datives / Chapter 4.2.1 --- To-datives and Triadic Directional to in Bilingual Children / Chapter 4.2.2 --- To-datives and Triadic Directional to in Monolingual Children / Chapter 4.3 --- The Acquisition of For-datives / Chapter 4.3.1 --- For-datives in Bilingual Children / Chapter 4.3.2 --- For-datives in Monolingual Children / Chapter 4.3.3 --- To-datives and for-datives / Chapter 4.4 --- Double Object Datives and Dative Alternation / Chapter 4.4.1 --- Double Object Datives and Dative Alternation in Bilingual Children / Chapter 4.4.2 --- Double Object Datives and Dative Alternation in Monolingual Children / Chapter 4.5 --- Summary / Chapter Chapter Five --- The Acquisition of Cantonese Dative Constructions / Chapter 5.1 --- Order of Emergence of Cantonese Dative Constructions / Chapter 5.1.1 --- Order of Emergence in Bilingual Children / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Order of Emergence in Monolingual Children / Chapter 5.2 --- The Acquisition of Inverted Double Object Datives / Chapter 5.2.1 --- Order of Emergence and Preference of Target vs. Non-target Forms / Chapter 5.2.2 --- Underlying Form and Surface Order / Chapter 5.3 --- The Acquisition of Serial Verb Dative Constructions / Chapter 5.3.1 --- Target and Non-target Serial Verb Dative Constructions / Chapter 5.3.2 --- Serial Verb Dative Constructions and [Bei2-Goal-Theme] Constructions / Chapter 5.4 --- Summary / Chapter Chapter Six --- Discussions / Chapter 6.1 --- Crosslinguistic Influence in the Acquisition of Dative Constructions / Chapter 6.1.1 --- Crosslinguistic Influence on English Dative Constructions / Chapter 6.1.2 --- Crosslinguistic Influence on Cantonese Dative Constructions / Chapter 6.2 --- Vulnerable Domains in Dative Constructions / Chapter 6.2.1 --- Vulnerable Domains in English Dative Construction / Chapter 6.2.2 --- Vulnerable Domains in Cantonese Dative Constructions / Chapter 6.3 --- Other Factors in the Acquisition of Dative Constructions / Chapter 6.3.1 --- Input frequency / Chapter 6.3.2 --- Parameters in Dative Constructions / Chapter 6.3.3 --- Default Grammars of Dative Constructions / Chapter 6.4 --- Summary / Chapter Chapter Seven --- Conclusions and Suggestions for Future Research / Chapter 7.1 --- Conclusions / Chapter 7.2 --- Open Questions / Chapter 7.3 --- Suggestions for Future Research / Chapter 7.3.1 --- Experimental Studies of Dative Constructions / Chapter 7.3.2 --- Dative Constructions in Other Languages / Chapter 7.3.3 --- Other Related Constructions / References

Not available / text

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Linguistics / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (M.I.T.)--The Evergreen State College, 2009. / Title from title screen (viewed 7/30/2009). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-118).

Thesis (M.A. (English Language and Linguistics))--Rhodes University, 2006.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T16:53:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2014-09-24Bitstream added on 2015-05-14T16:59:03Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000824256.pdf: 4917736 bytes, checksum: 2d4ae7088e9c1760c94a5ea98faa3e23 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Este trabalho trata de questões de referência pessoal/auto-referência, bem como a referência à segunda pessoa, nas duas línguas maternas de uma criança bilíngue (Francês e Português). Nossa pesquisa, que se baseia em uma abordagem dialógico-discursiva de aquisição da linguagem e considera que a criança adquire e entra na linguagem por meio dos diferentes gêneros (Bakhtin, 1988, François, 1994), tem como fundamento os estudos de expressões referenciais propostos por Salazar-Orvig et al. (2003, 2010) e a relação entre a aquisição de pronomes pessoais e auto-referência, a partir dos estudos de Morgenstern (2006). Considerando-se que em Português os verbos podem ser usados sem os pronomes pessoais, pois as desinências trazem a referência à pessoa, a questão que nos colocamos é: a aquisição de elementos de auto-referência e de referência ao interlocutor acontecem da mesma maneira quando a criança está adquirindo duas línguas ao mesmo tempo? Além de responder a esta questão, pretendemos destacar como os interlocutores fazem uso destes recursos no diálogo e de que forma eles se referem um ao outro. O uso destas marcas de referência, pelos pais e pela criança, foi estudado em um corpus longitudinal composto por 15 sessões de filmagem de uma criança bilíngue (Mar., 2;5-3;2) em interação com os pais (8 sessões com a mãe - brasileira - e 7 com pai, que é francês), no período de aproximadamente um ano. As sessões cobriram o período de enunciados de duas palavras até a sintaxe adulta. Os enunciados foram analisados de acordo com a presença dos pronomes pessoais em Português e em Francês, nomes próprios e sujeito nulo. Desinências verbais, que variam em Português de acordo com o tempo verbal e a pessoa, também foram analisadas. Resumidamente, nosso objetivo foi o de explorar a especificidade do bilinguismo em relação às questões de referência. E, como resultado principal, percebemos que ... / Our research is based in a dialogical approach of language acquisition, which considers that a child acquires and enters in the language through the different genres (Bakhtin, 1988, François, 1994). Thus, this work is centred in questions about personal reference, as well as the reference to the second person in both first languages of a bilingual child (French and Portuguese). In sequence, we make a parallel between the bilingual child and a monolingual child in Portuguese and the bilingual with a monolingual in French, having the same reference expressions as the aim of our analysis. This study has its basis in the studies of referential expressions proposed by Salazar-Orvig et al. (2003, 2010) and about the relation between the acquisition of personal pronoun and self-reference, it will be considered the studies of Morgenstern (2006). In Portuguese, the verbs can be used without the personal pronouns, as the verbal ending makes reference to the person. The question we stake is: The acquisition of self-reference elements and the reference to the interlocutor happens in the same way when a child is learning two languages at once? Moreover, the objective is to highlight how the interlocutors make usage of these tools in the dialog, besides the way they refer to each other. The use of these marks of reference, by the parents and by a bilingual child (Mar., 2;5-3;2), was studied in one longitudinal corpus composed by 15 sections in interactions with the parents (8 sections with the mother - who is Brazilian - and 7 with the father - who is French) in the period of almost one year. Two monolingual children were recorded in a longer period but we chose the period of one year (according to the language development in the acquisition process) and we used this data to compare with the bilingual child. All the sections covered a period of statements of two words until the adult’s syntax. The statements were analysed according to the ...