Language mixing in bilingual children
- 1 June 1978
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Journal of Child Language
- Vol. 5 (2) , 327-335
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000900007509
Abstract
Language samples of five Spanish/English bilingual children between the ages of 2; 10 and 6; 2 were examined for language mixes. Only 2% of the total utterances examined contained mixes. The most common type of mix involved the insertion of single lexical entries – mostly English nouns into Spanish utterances. Very few phrasal mixes were observed. It was concluded that language mixes do not constitute a major interference in the acquisition of bilingualism since children appear to be able to differentiate their two linguistic systems from an early age.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Role of Motivation and Cultural Background in Language Acquisition in the Bilingual ChildThe International Journal of Communication and Linguistic Studies, 2015
- Bilingualism in the Bicentennial and beyondThe Modern Language Journal, 1977