1. Chapter 5:
The Bilingual Child
By:
Teddy Fiktorius (F5221 2025)
Postgraduate Study of English Language Education
Teacher Training and Education Faculty
University of Tanjungpura
Pontianak
2013

2. Outline
1. Introduction
2. Types & Studies of bilingual acquisition in
childhood
3. Interference, transfer, and universals
4. Code-switching
5. Personal and attitudinal factors affecting
children’s bilingualism
6. Later childhood bilingualism

3. Introduction
routes in bilingual acquisition
Up to age 3
after age 3 or
in adolescence
adults
Focus of this chapter
‘natural’
6 types
Without formal
instruction
Research finding-based
workers
e.g. migrant

4. Types of bilingual acquisition in childhood
Type 1:
Parents
One person - one language
Each parent has a different native language and a
degree of competence in the language of the
other
Community
The language of one parent is the dominant
language of the community
Strategy
Each parent speaks their own native language to
the child form the birth
The studies:
Author
Mother
language
Father
language
Community
language
Ronjar (1913)
German
French
French
German
English
Italian
Italian
Leopold (1939- English
1949)
Taeschner
German
(1983)

5. Types of bilingual acquisition in childhood
Type 2: Non-dominant home language
Parents have different native languages
Parents
Community
Strategy
The language of one parent is the dominant
language of the community
Both parents speak the non-dominant language to
the child and the child is fully exposed to the
dominant language only when outside home
The study:
Author
Mother
language
Father
language
Community
language
Fantini (1985)
Spanish
English
English

6. Types of bilingual acquisition in childhood
Type 3: Non-dominant home language without
community support share the same native language
Parents
Parents
Community
The dominant language is not of his parents
Strategy
The parents speak their own language to the child
The studies:
Author
Mother
language
Father
language
Community
language
Haugen (1953) Norwegian
Norwegian
English
Oksaar (1977)
Estonian
Estonian
Ruke-Dravina
(1967)
Pavlovitch
(1920)
Latvian
Latvian
Swedish/
German
Swedish
Servian
Servian
French

7. Types of bilingual acquisition in childhood
Type 4: Double non-dominant home language without
community support
Parents have different native languages
Parents
Community
Strategy
The study:
Author
Elwert (1959)
The dominant language is different from either of
the parent’s languages
The parents speak their own language to the child
Mother
language
Father
language
Community
language
English
German
Italian

8. Types of bilingual acquisition in childhood
Type 5: Non-native parents
Parents share the same native language
Parents
Community
Strategy
The dominant language is the same as that of the
parents
One of the parents always addresses the child in
a language which is not his/her native language
The study:
Author
Mother
language
Father
language
Community
language
Saunders
(1982)
English
English
(German)
English

9. Types of bilingual acquisition in childhood
Type 6: Mixed languages
Parents are bilinguals
Parents
Community
Sectors of community may also be bilingual.
Strategy
Parents code-switch and mix languages
The study:
Author
Mother
language
Father
language
Community
language
TabouretKeller (1962)
Ellul (1978)
Smith (1935)
French/
German
Maltese/
English
English
French/
German
Maltese/
English
English
French/
German
Maltese/
English
Chinese
Burling (1959)
English
English
Garo

10. Interference, transfer, and universals
Bilingualism
Child’s acquisition pattern
Cross-linguistic influence
Interference
One lexical system (in the early stages)
Fantini (1985) :
fusion
Interference
separation (of the two systems)
‘truly bilingual’

11. Code-switching
Saunders (1982):
‘triggering’
Unconscious switching
Internal linguistic factors
e.g. a word belonging to both languages
forget which language the speaker is speaking in
A trigger
continue in the other language
e.g.
Frank: Mum, what can I have to drink?
Mother: Do you want some Prima?
An Australian brand of orange juice
Frank: Ja, bitte.
(‘Yes, please.’)
A German word meaning ‘terrific’
a trigger to switch into German
ANTICIPATIONAL switching
VS
CONSEQUENTIAL switching

12. Saunders (1982):
Quotational switching
To quote a crucial line in the story
Haugen (1953): ‘untranslatable & inimitable punch line’
e.g.
Thomas: I know this one, Mum. It’s called Die Wilde
Jagd
(The Wild Chase). It’s about dome kids
and their
mugs get filled up all the time
by the ghost, he tells
them not to tell anyone.
But they tell their mother
and father, und die
Glaser werden nie wieder
gefullt (and
the glasses are never again filled).

13. Personal and attitudinal factors
affecting children’s bilingualism
Children’s bilingualism
Receptiveness
Child
family
attitudes
extended family
school
society
CASES:
Doctor
School psychologist
Professionals
(speech therapist)
bilingualism=child’s confusion

14. Later childhood bilingualism
Balkan (1970):
Early childhood bilingualism
VS
later in childhood or adolescence
more advantages
numerical ability
Bilingual
VS
Monolingual
score better
Bilingual before age 4
VS
Bilingual after age 4
& monolingual
verbal & perceptual flexibility
general reasoning
more superior