Conjoined Clauses in L2 Acqusition?

[Peyton Todd]

Hello all. Does anyone know of research on the tendency of children of preschool age learning a second language in an 'immersion' situation to attempt to conjoin clauses without waiting for the grammar of their individual clauses to develop much past the one-word stage? Apparently, children learning English as a first language learn to conjoin clauses during their third year of life, when the grammar of the indivdual clause is already well-developed. My subject, a hearing child of deaf parents whose acquisition of English began at age 3, freely conjoined 'clauses' (i.e. one-word or two-word utterances expressing a clause) when the MLU of his individual clauses was in the vicinity of 1.3 to 1.5 (depending on how we define it).

Note: By 'immersion' I do not mean total immersion, but only that the exposure was e.g., free play, not structured as in a classroom setting teaching the language.

Thanks in advance,
Peyton Todd