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6 - Determinants of Bilingualism among Children

An Economic Analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 March 2020

By
Barry R. Chiswick  and
Marina Gindelsky
Edited by
Cécile B. Vigouroux  and
Salikoko S. Mufwene
Cécile B. Vigouroux
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University, British Columbia
Salikoko S. Mufwene
Affiliation:
University of Chicago
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Summary

This paper uses the American Community Survey (ACS) (2005–2011) to construct a child-level dataset and explore the determinants of bilingualism for children (<=18) who were either born in the United States or immigrated before the age of 14. The model focuses on variables associated with exposure to a language other than English as the primary determinants of bilingualism among children. Parental proficiency in English, parental foreign birthplace, residence in a linguistic enclave, shared parental ancestry, and race/ethnicity are found to be the most important determinants of child bilingualism.

Keywords

Bilingualismimmigrantsancestrychild migrantsforeign-bornlanguage
Type
Chapter
Information
Bridging Linguistics and Economics , pp. 158 - 181
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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