multilingual babies

Wed Jun 1 18:44:41 UTC 2011

I have loved all the discussion to date.  I want to add a little bit as
a researcher of bilngual speech sound development and disorder.

I think we have to be careful about separating out the child who is a
circumstantial bilingual from an elective bilingual when we decide "how
many" languages. If a child needs one/two/three/ten languages to function in
their communication environment, then that child needs to learn those
languages, regardless of their communication disorder.  There is published
research (Genesee, Paradis, & Crago) showing that a bilingual child with a
language disorder continues to show language growth in both languages.  The
child still has a language disorder - a core difficulty in language - but
still continues to grow in language skills in both environments.  To
paraphrase Kathryn Kohnert, language disorders are not caused by
bilingualism, nor are they cured by monolingualism.  In fact, by trying to
control the language environment of a circumstantial bilingual - say turn
them into monolingual English child when their parents speak one or two
other languages at home - you are depriving them of communication
opportunities, depleting the richness of their language environment.  Not a
good idea if what the child is already struggling from is a difficulty in
acquiring language syntax/grammar/phonology - more exposure is important,
not less.  If a child speaks English with their parents but Spanish with the
extended family every weekend, do you really want to take away Spanish?
 That child will be cut off from Spanish communication situations for the
rest of their life.  Relationships with family members, cultural subtleties
that are lost if you can't understood what's said.  Not a good idea for
someone with a communication disorder.

For me the question still not answered is the elective bilingual. For
example, a child from an English-only home in the United States.  You can
get by just fine as a monolingual English speaker in the US.  If a child is
identified with a communication disorder, is it wise to put them in a
bilingual school - if that 2nd language is purely elective (parents don't
speak it, for instance).  We may want children to achieve the most possible
and we may want to introduce them to that 2nd language during that (elusive)
critical period0, but if language learning is a struggle, do we want to put
them in an environment that they will likely struggle in, so that one day
they will be bilingual?   This is an individualized decision every parent
must make in these elective situations.  If it were MY child, I would give
them as language-rich an environment in what is needed functionally for my
child, then later - once English is stronger - introduce a 2nd or even 3rd
language.  But not initially. Elective bilingualism in children with
communication disorders is an area waiting for further research...

Best, Christina

***********
Christina Gildersleeve-Neumann, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
Associate Professor & Graduate Adviser
Speech and Hearing Sciences Department
Portland State University
Neuberger Hall 85
PO Box 751
Portland, Oregon 97027-0751

Physical Address:  Neuberger Hall 73

503.725.3230
cegn at pdx.edu

On Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 10:21 AM, Bruno Estigarribia <brunilda at gmail.com>wrote:

> Of course, I misspelled Mark's last name *sigh*, it's "Liberman".
> Apologies.
> Bruno
>
>  I thought briefly about opening a new thread for this, but I think it
>> would be overkill.
>> See Mark Lieberman's post today on language log about multilingualism
>> and Alzheimer's. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3175
>> In the end, as many have said, for all the ways in which language is a
>> formal construct, language is also functional. If you live in a
>> multilingual environment, what are you going to do? The question is
>> almost moot.
>> Bruno Estigarribia
>> UNC Chapel Hill
>>
>> On May 9, 11:20 am, Miquel Serra<miquel.se... at ub.edu>  wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Parisa
>>> Bilingulism is both, a situation to which a family has to (functionally)
>>> adapt and a project for the children to fullfill. It is not (only) a
>>> desire of parents or politicians (and academics).
>>> Adaptation depends on many factors  and circumstances. And a project
>>>  depends on long distance goals and means for them. If one is fucntional
>>> and has clear goals, there is no problem. But it is more important for
>>> the children to admire a culture than to be pressed to learn a distant
>>> language.
>>> Miquel Serra
>>> U Barcelona, Catalonia
>>>
>>
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