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The bilingual lexicon: implications for studies of language choice*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Suzanne Quay
Suzanne Quay*
Affiliation:
International Christian University
*
Department of Communication and Linguistics, Division of International Studies, International Christian University, Osawa 3–10–2, Mitaka, Tokyo 181, Japan.
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Abstract

Lexical gaps in vocabulary development have been acknowledged as a reason for language mixing in young bilingual children. In spite of this, most studies do not take into account whether young bilinguals have the lexical resources to make a choice between their two languages. Inferences are nevertheless still being made about whether or not young bilinguals differentiate between their two languages based on language choice. It is widely believed, however, that young bilinguals do not have the resources to make lexical choices at a pre-syntactic stage of development before age two. A bilingual case study of an infant acquiring Spanish and English from birth to age 1;10 is used to address this issue. Daily diary records and weekly video recordings in the two language contexts are used to construct the child's lexicon and to establish that translation equivalents that make possible language choice are available from the beginning of speech. The results are used to discuss the importance of translation equivalents in the bilingual lexicon for viable interpretations of language choice.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , June 1995 , pp. 369 - 387
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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Footnotes

[*]

I would particularly like to acknowledge my debt to Margaret Deuchar for generously making her audio/video recordings and diary notes available to me, and for her invaluable criticisms and comments on my work. I would like to thank Margaret Deuchar and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments and suggestions on an earlier draft.

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