a question about multilingual babies

[Natasha Ringblom]

Dear Tamar and Yves!

Your question has generated a great deal of discussion among my  
students of bilingualism at the University of Uppsala. Thanks a lot  
for raising this issue. Below I attach one of the answers of my  
students (Olof Pettersson - olofmartinhenry at gmail.com)  who did a  
great job going through all the previous answers and comments and at  
the same time adding a new perspective.

Hope it will be interesting for you to read and perhaps - even help  
making your decision.

Best,

Natasha Ringblom



Dear Tamar and Yves,

I would like to begin by stating that while I don't think your  
situation is as complicated as some of the earlier responses make it  
out to be, I would say that it is far from without complexity. Most  
research on bilingualism seems to focus on bilingual children rather  
than tri- or quadrilingual, as is the case with your child. This is  
what potentially could make things a little complicated.

                       I feel the need to point out that I do not  
agree with those who claim that bilingual first language acquisition  
could be disadvantageous to the mental development of children,  
causing language delay or even autism. Given the state of the world,  
where bilingualism (i. e. a situation where children have been exposed  
to more than one language since before they can produce utterances)  
has a clear statistical majority over monolingualism, it seems absurd  
to claim that multiple language acquisition could be the cause of  
impairment of the cognitive abilities of a child. Many of the earlier  
responses have already mentioned this statistical majority, so I feel  
that not much more needs to be added about that.

                       Now, something that seems rather crucial to  
mention, that I haven't seen in any of the responses so far, is the  
notion of a “critical period” for acquisition of language. Most  
researchers agree that such a period exists, based on evidence that  
the neurological maturation of the brain causes it to lose its initial  
plasticity. Such a development has been proven to exist in many other  
species, and is typically linked to some art-specific skill (like  
flight for birds). In the case of humans, this is supposed to lead to  
easier language acquisition before this process is finished. Now,  
there is little consensus among the scientific community as to what  
age range this period actually applies to. The originally  
propositioned end age of 13 has been abandoned, and many researchers  
are now speaking of different critical periods for different sections  
of language acquisition (i. e. phonology, morphology, syntax etc.).  
One thing that most linguists researching early bilingualism however  
seem to agree on is that the early years and months are ideal for  
learning more than one language with native-like control as ultimate  
attainment as goal. Thus I would agree with Bruno (10/5 2011) that it  
is important that you make out clear goals for your child, based on  
which language you deem to be most likely to be the most instrumental  
to him in his future.

                       This brings me to your question about what  
language his nursery should be in. Also here you should take into  
account what the future might hold for your son, because the  
language(s) he learns there is likely to be a strong candidate for  
becoming his dominant language, especially if it is the same language  
as spoken by the society in which he grows up, or also if it is one of  
the languages he hears at home. As Lofa (9/5 2011) writes, and I  
agree, the country of residence and your own attitudes towards the  
different languages play huge roles in shaping the prerequisites for  
your son's language choices. Every little thing that can be associated  
with the respective languages is going to be picked up by him, because  
in the state of neurologically optimized language-learning he  
currently is, he is sensitive to all available input. When choosing  
what language you want him to be surrounded by the most, it is also  
important to keep in mind that complete multilingualism is very hard  
to attain. Most often, multilingual children will end up with a  
complete abstract linguistic system, with domain-based proficiency in  
each of their different languages. This means that whichever language  
your son is most likely to hear in for example the kitchen, is the  
language he will most frequently use about kitchen items or activities.

                       Keeping all these things in mind, together with  
the answers given earlier, I hope you feel that you are better  
equipped to make good choices for your son. I hope I was able to add  
something useful.

Olof Pettersson, linguistics student at the University of Uppsala,  
Sweden

Olof Pettersson - olofmartinhenry at gmail.com







8 maj 2011 kl. 19.48 skrev Tamar & Yves:

> Hello all,
> Our 10 months old son is exposed to 3 languages at home ( each one of
> us is speaking to him his mother- tongue, and we speak English between
> us) and to a 4th one outside.
>
>
> Soon he will be starting Nursery, and we were wondering what language
> it should be in. Is it better to expose him simultaneously to all 4
> languages or should we do it gradually over the first few years of his
> life (It's possible to sign him up to a nursery in my husnband's
> mother tongue (2)/ english (3)/ bi lingual (enviroment+English)(4))
>
>
> We don't want language acquisition to be too much of a burden on him,
> and not sure how many languages he can learn at once.
>
>
> We are aware of the large number of factors affecting the answer, but
> does anyone know or refer us to research done on the specific issues
> of (i) number of languages babies can learn and its implication on
> their emotional state; and (ii) Is it better to expose a baby to those
> languages simultaneously or gradually over the first few years of his
> life.
>
> Thanks,
> Tamar & Yves
>
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