ABSTRACT

Previous research indicates that developmental contexts influence language development. These developmental contexts include bilingualism, which is the focus of the current paper. This study analyses the influence that the acquisition of a language, Catalan, has when the simultaneous acquisition of another similar language, Spanish, occurs. This influence is examined according to degree of exposure to the languages. The parents of 801 children completed the Catalan version of the MacArthur-Bates CDI-II questionnaire, which assesses the acquisition of vocabulary, morphology and grammatical complexity. Subjects were divided into three groups according to age and linguistic context (Catalan monolingual, medium bilingual and familiar bilingual). The results do not reveal substantial differences according to linguistic context. However, children aged 26–30 months with a medium bilingual profile show a higher level of vocabulary as compared to the other groups. The results are discussed in relation to the sociolinguistic context, caregiver diversity, typological distance between the languages and developmental stages of language acquisition.

摘要

先前的研究表明，发展情境会影响语言发展。这些发展背景包括双语，这是本文的重点。这项研究分析了在同时获得另一种类似语言西班牙语时，加泰罗尼亚语获得的影响。根据对语言的了解程度来检查这种影响。801名儿童的父母填写了加泰罗尼亚语版本的MacArthur-Bates CDI-II调查表，该调查表评估了词汇，形态和语法复杂度的获得情况。根据年龄和语言环境将受试者分为三类（加泰罗尼亚语，中等语种和熟悉的双语）。结果并没有显示出根据语言环境的实质性差异。然而，与其他人群相比，年龄在26-30个月之间的中型双语儿童显示出更高的词汇量。讨论了有关社会语言环境，照顾者多样性，语言之间的类型学距离以及语言习得发展阶段的结果。