BILINGUAL FIRST LANGAUGE ACQUISITION 1
Fred H. Genesee, Elena Nicoladis · 2006
This chapter focuses on the simultaneous acquisition of two languages from birth, or what is generally referred to as bilingual first language acquisition (BFLA). A major question in studies of BFLA, and a focus of our review, is whether the developmental path and time course of language development in BFL learners is the same as that of children learning only one language. Underlying this question is the theoretical issue of whether children’s ability to learn language is challenged in any way by the acquisition of two languages at the same time. Evidence that the rate of language development is slowed down in BFL learners in comparison to monolingual learners would argue that the ability that all children have to learn language is compromised by the challenge of learning more than one language at the same time. An additional issue is whether exposure to two languages simultaneously influences the pattern of development so that it differs from that observed in monolingual learners. Evidence that the patterns are different could give us insights as to how the processes that underlie language acquisition cope with dual language input. The study of bilingual first language acquisition (BFLA) has had a remarkably long history. In 1913, Ronjat published a detailed description of his son Louis ’ simultaneous acquisition of French and German. Louis showed remarkable progress in both his languages and little sign of confusion. Ronjat attributed Louis’s lack of confusion to both parents ’ use of only one language with him. This conclusion was brought into doubt in 1949 when Leopold published the last volume of a detailed diary of his daughter’s (Hildegard) simultaneous acquisition of