Bilingual acquisition and metalinguistic development : a study in context

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dc.contributor.authorBendle, Norman Keithen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-08-13T00:08:00Z
dc.date.available2024-08-13T00:08:00Z
dc.date.copyright1993en_US
dc.date.issued1993
dc.degree.departmentDepartment of Linguistics
dc.degree.departmentSchool of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures
dc.degree.levelMaster of Arts M.A.en
dc.description.abstractMetalingustic development is not only a function of cognitive maturation, but also of contextual variables. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of one such environmental factor, the simultaneous acquisition of two languages, on metalinguistic development. An examination of naturalistic data reveals features of the bilingual acquisition context which differe from monolingual acquisition. Bilingual children must learn two different linguistic systems to express the same meanings. In addition, they must separate the two systems and learn to use them in appropriate contexts, a process which results in the bilingual phenomena of translation and code-switching. These features of bilingual acquisition foster an early realization of the arbitrary nature of language and stimulate the separation of meaning from form. Moreover, they promote an awareness of the pragmatic variability of linguistic form. Metalingustics abilities of bilingual and monolingual kindergarten children are tested by means of a work segmentation task and two grammatical awareness tasks. The results suggest that the assumption that bilinguals exhibit a more formal approach to language than monolinguals must be altered to a more context-oriented model, namely that bilinguals focus more on the pragmatic application of form to meaning in a particular communicative situation. Moreover, linguistic proficiency is found to be a very significant variable, suggesting that general-language ability is very closely linked with metalinguistics awareness. In a bilingual or multilingual context, this finding provides some support for the 'linguistic interdependence' hypothesis (Cummins, 1979) and underlies the need for the development of proficiency in both languages.en
dc.format.extent132 pages
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1828/17215
dc.rightsAvailable to the World Wide Weben_US
dc.titleBilingual acquisition and metalinguistic development : a study in contexten_US
dc.typeThesisen_US

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