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Autonomous and interdependent development of two language systems in Japanese/English simultaneous bilinguals: Evidence from question formation

Rikkyo University, Tokyo, morisato{at}rikkyo.ac.jp

The recent finding that two languages develop autonomously in young simultaneous bilinguals has been challenged by several researchers. The current study attempts to show that both independence and interdependence are involved in early bilingual development. Longitudinal analysis of the acquisition of question formation was conducted in two Japanese/English bilingual children. The results indicate that the development of the two grammars is basically autonomous, but cross-language effects are also present, although not in both children. It is suggested that cross-linguistic cue competition best captures the transfer process, and that linguistic environment for each child may be the source of individual differences in the use of cross-linguistic structures. Implications of the current results for language acquisition theories are discussed.

Key Words: Bilingual first language acquisition • child grammar • Competition Model • Independent Development Hypothesis • interrogatives • naturalistic data • syntactic development • word order

First Language, Vol. 25, No. 3, 291-315 (2005)
DOI: 10.1177/0142723705052560


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