2/25/20091Characteristics of Spanish-Influenced English Phonology– ch for sh substitution “chop” for “shop”– ee for short i , so “seester” for “sister”  Syntax and Morphology– past tense -ed is not obligatory– use of “have” forms for copula “be” (“I have eight years”) Pragmatics– close personal distance and touching– direct eye contact avoidedBilingualism Approx. 18% of people in US are bilingual, mostly Spanish and English true Balanced Bilingualism is rare – Equal proficiency in both languages more often, one language is dominant– Productive bilingual – able to use both languages productively, like balanced bilingualism– Receptive bilingual– productive or proficient in one language, but able to understand mostly a second language– Attrition– language loss, dominant language can become nondominant or fade awayDual Language Learner Simultaneous bilingual – acquired two languages from birth, or exposed to second language within first year Second language learner – only acquires one language for first 3 years, acquires second language after first is establishedsecond language after first is established Many factors affect this:– Majority versus minority language of the community, status– Input in home– Age of acquisition– Individual proficiency for learning languages2/25/20092Questions About Bilingualism Is there an optimal age for L2 learning?– Better to learn early? Better to learn later?– People of any age CAN learn L2; children typically will be slower than adults but ultimately younger L2 learners are more proficient than older L2 learners What is the nature of simultaneous language li?learning?– Dual language system hypothesis (p. 388) – child is learning two separate language systems from the start Does simultaneous language learning cause language or developmental delays? NO– Transfer – applies skill from L1 to L2– Code-mixing– mixing of elements from L1 and L2Advantages of Bilingualism Increased metalinguistic knowledge, grammatical awareness Correlations between bilingualism and cognition:– classificiation, perceptual organizationti it–creativity– concept formation, science concepts– memory– problem solving– role taking– social sensitivity–