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Bilinguals vs. monolinguals: Where is the difference?
Author(s) -
Mykhaylyk Roksolana
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
studia linguistica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.187
H-Index - 28
eISSN - 1467-9582
pISSN - 0039-3193
DOI - 10.1111/stul.12007
Subject(s) - linguistics , ukrainian , syntax , object (grammar) , scrambling , phenomenon , neuroscience of multilingualism , variation (astronomy) , semantics (computer science) , psychology , grammar , computer science , physics , philosophy , quantum mechanics , astrophysics , programming language
It has been suggested earlier that the reinforced syntactic variation in bilingual input might lead to cross‐linguistic influence and vulnerability in some areas of the child grammar. This study verifies this suggestion against new experimental data. Since direct object scrambling is optional in Ukrainian and prohibited in English, it could be a more vulnerable domain in Ukrainian‐English bilingual acquisition than in monolingual Ukrainian acquisition. It appears, however, that 2;2–6;3‐year‐old bilingual children mostly follow similar patterns in scrambling production as their monolingual peers. Several aspects of possible distinctions are discussed (i.e., direct object type and pragmatic sensitivity), but the available data do not allow us to claim that there are significant group differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in regard to the considered phenomenon at the syntax‐semantics interface.