ntroducing the fancy term for bilingual development: Bilingual First Language Acquisition

What is Bilingual First Language Acquisition (BFLA)?

The family as the primary setting for bilingual development

Developing in two languages from birth: An outline

Milestones in bilingual language development

Normal variation in bilingual language development

Varying levels of development in each language

Negotiating language choice in conversations

Introducing four bilingual families

Key points

Activities and discussion points

Further reading

This chapter sets the scene for the rest of the book.

• It defines the topic of this book. The topic is bilingual development, but as of now I will mostly use the more technical term for it, namely Bilingual First Language Acquisition or BFLA for short.

• It establishes that when children start hearing two languages from birth this usually happens within the family.

• It gives an introductory overview of BFLA children's major linguistic developments.

• It discusses the great range of variation that exists among BFLA children (and monolingual ones) during the ages at which major linguistic developments take place.

• It explains how BFLA children's two languages do not necessarily develop at the same rate.

• It emphasizes the role of the people that BFLA children interact with in helping to explain children's selection of one language rather than another.

• And, finally, this chapter introduces four BFLA children and their families whose bilingual development will be traced throughout most of the rest of this book.

What is Bilingual First Language Acquisition (BFLA)?

Bilingual First Language Acquisition (BFLA) is the development of language in young children who hear two languages spoken to them from birth. BFLA children are learning two first languages. There is no chronological difference between the two languages in terms of when the children started to hear them. This is why in referring to these languages it is best to use a notation that does not imply a notion of 'first' and 'second'. Following Wölck (1987/88) I will refer to BFLA children's two languages as Language A and Language Alpha.

I will be using the term Bilingual First Language Acquisition as a synonym for bilingual development. The term Bilingual First Language Acquisition is just more technical and precise.

My focus in this book is on children under the age of six. There are two main reasons: first, this book wants to describe how children become bilingual the way other children become monolingual, that is, without anyone formally teaching them. Children under the age of six typically learn language without formal instruction. This may change as they start to go to school around the age of six. Second, most of the scientific publications on bilingual development concern children under the age of six.

The definition of BFLA refers only to the context in which young children learn to speak. It differs from Monolingual First Language Acquisition (MFLA), in which children hear just one language from birth (their Language 1). BFLA also represents a different language learning context than Early Second Language Acquisition (ESLA), where MFLA children's language environments change in such a way that they start to hear a second language (Language 2) with some regularity over and above their Language 1. Often, this happens through day care or preschool. The BFLA context also differs from that of Trilingual First Language Acquisition (TFLA) where young children hear three languages from birth (e.g. Barnes, 2006).

BFLA, MFLA, ESLA and TFLA, then, are four different contexts for language learning in early childhood. Whether these different contexts all imply different language acquisition processes and developments is an issue that is beyond the scope of this book. However, I will, at times, draw comparisons between BFLA on the one hand, and MFLA on the other.

This book only talks about contexts where young children are hearing spoken language(s). Some children, though, may have little access to spoken language or it may even be absent. This is the case when children are born into families where the people taking care of them do not speak, but use sign language, or when children have a serious hearing loss that prevents them from hearing speech. If children growing up in these circumstances see two different sign languages from birth they may also be acquiring two first languages. Once there are studies documenting such contexts we may have to expand the definition of BFLA to include these as well.

The family as the primary setting for bilingual development

If children hear two languages spoken to them from birth, they will most likely hear them within the (extended) family. As such, the family is the primary setting in which children develop bilingually. There are, of course, many different kinds of families, and children grow up in many different kinds of family settings. When in the following I speak of 'parents' and 'couples' I am referring to all the people who take care of young children on a day-to-day basis. A single parent who has no help from others with a newborn baby may also create a BFLA situation by addressing the child in two languages from the very start.

The typical BFLA situation is the one where a newborn child's parents speak each of two languages when the baby is present. The chances are that during pregnancy, the not-yet-born infant heard mother speak two languages (that's right, infants can hear before they are born–seeChapter 2). But it is just as possible that until the birth the not-yet-born child's mother spoke only one language, and that the birth of the child triggers a change in the mother's language use.

Indeed, childless monolingual couples often become instant bilingual families upon the birth of their first child. This is most often the case when children are born to couples where the partners have different language backgrounds but speak only one language between themselves. After the birth of the baby one of them then starts speaking another language to the infant, and continues using the other language in addressing the other parent. Such changes in home language use patterns can have profound effects on the couple's relationship.

Alternatively, parents-to-be may both be bilingual and speak two languages at home. When the baby arrives, this pattern is just continued. There are also situations where bilingual couples decide to address their infant in just one language, thereby effectively blocking the possibility of BFLA. At the other end of the spectrum,...