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Reconsidering Early Bilingualism

A Corpus-Based Study of Polish Migrant Children in the United Kingdom

by Marcin Opacki (Author)
©2016 Monographs 334 Pages
Series: Gdańsk Studies in Language, Volume 9

Summary

This book investigates the language of Polish-English bilingual children raised in the United Kingdom and their Polish monolingual counterparts. It exemplifies the lexico-grammatical knowledge of both groups and uses corpus-based grammatical inference in order to establish the source of the impediment of the minority language of the bilingual group. The author applies the methodology of corpus linguistics and narrative analysis to study the language of young bilinguals. He presupposes the caveat that a child-type competence exists and can be contrasted with an adult-type competence. He uses a variety of corpus frequency measures to compare the specific stylometric features of bilingual child narratives and their monolingual counterparts. The book focuses on how bilingual and monolingual language differs in areas such as the lexicon, morphosyntax, and semantics.

Table Of Contents

  • Cover
  • Title
  • Copyright
  • About the author
  • About the book
  • This eBook can be cited
  • Acknowledgments
  • Table of Contents
  • Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations
  • Terms and Abbreviations
  • Grammatical Glossary Notation
  • The Structure of this Book
  • Abstract
  • Chapter I: The Objectives and Hypotheses of the Present Book
  • 1.1 Justification of Research and Methodology
  • 1.2 Main Objective
  • 1.3 Research Questions and Thesis Statements
  • 1.3.1 Minority Language Impediment Etiology
  • 1.3.2 Origins of Cross-Linguistic Influence
  • 1.3.3 Operationalization of Language Dominance through Transfer Polarity
  • 1.3.4 Accuracy of Parental Assessment of Language Dominance
  • 1.3.5 Narrative Retelling Modelling Effect
  • 1.3.6 Bilingual Deficit Etiology
  • 1.4 Conclusion
  • Chapter II: Bilingualism and Multilingualism
  • 2.1 Two Languages versus Many
  • 2.2 Definitions and Taxonomies of Bilingualism
  • 2.3 History of Research into Multiple Language Modalities
  • 2.4 The Impact of Multilingualism and Bilingualism
  • 2.5 Conclusion
  • Chapter III: Childhood Bilingualism in a Polish Context
  • 3.1 Monolingual Language Acquisition in Polish Children
  • 3.2 Bilingual Language Acquisition
  • 3.3 Modelling Bilingualism
  • 3.4 Typologies of Childhood Bilingualism
  • 3.5 Conclusion
  • Chapter IV: Cross-Linguistic Influence in Bilinguals
  • 4.1 Language Dominance
  • 4.2 Approaches to Language Transfer
  • 4.3 Research into Constraints on Language Transfer
  • 4.3.1 The Role of the Syntax-Pragmatics Interface
  • 4.3.2 The Effect of Informativeness on Argument Structure
  • 4.3.3 The Efficacy of Informativeness as a Predictor of Argument Structure
  • 4.3.4 The Role of the Syntax-Semantics Interface
  • 4.3.5 The Role of Input
  • 4.4 Code-Mixing and Code-Switching
  • 4.4.1 Mixing vs. Switching
  • 4.4.2 Frameworks
  • 4.5 Conclusion
  • Chapter V: Approaches to the Study of Bilingual Child Narratives
  • 5.1 On the Emergence of Narratives
  • 5.1.1 Every Human is a Tale-Teller, and Every Human is a Listener
  • 5.1.2 Why study Narratives?
  • 5.2 Approaches to Narrative Analysis
  • 5.2.1 The Narrative as a Grammar
  • 5.2.2 The Narrative as a Causal Network
  • 5.2.3 The Narrative as Form-Function Mapping
  • 5.2.4 Narratives, Intentionality, and Theory of Mind
  • 5.3 Methods of Narrative Analysis: a Review of the Field
  • 5.3.1 Elicitation Materials
  • 5.3.2 Bilingual Data Collection
  • 5.3.3 Macrostructure and Microstructure
  • 5.3.4 Marcostructure Analysis
  • 5.3.5 Microstructure Analysis Methods
  • 5.4 Conclusion
  • Chapter VI: Theoretical Assumptions
  • 6.1 Current and Past Theories of Grammatical Modelling
  • 6.2 Why it is Necessary to Formalize Language when Modelling it through Corpora
  • 6.2.1 Formal Quantification
  • 6.2.2 Typological Neutrality
  • 6.3 Issues in Error Analysis
  • 6.3.1 Error
  • 6.3.2 Alternate Error Taxonomies
  • 6.3.3 Why the Previous Taxonomies were Found Wanting
  • 6.4 Towards a Form-Meaning-based Error Taxonomy
  • 6.4.1 Present Definitions
  • 6.4.2 Present Error Taxonomy Proper
  • 6.4.3 Argument Structure Error
  • 6.4.4 Argument Restriction
  • 6.4.5 Word-Order
  • 6.4.6 Word-Level Inflection
  • 6.4.7 Derivation
  • 6.4.8 Non-Local Morphology
  • 6.4.9 Pragmatic Error (abandoned category)
  • 6.4.10 CLI Taxonomy Proper
  • 6.5 Conclusion
  • Chapter VII: Corpus Structure and Mark-Up
  • 7.1 Data Sources and Experiment Set-Up
  • 7.1.1 Participants
  • 7.1.2 Data Accumulation Procedure (MAIN test)3
  • 7.1.3 Data Processing
  • 7.2 Corpus Structure and Mark-Up Design
  • 7.2.1 Ensuring Representativeness
  • 7.2.2 Mark-Up
  • 7.2.3 Mark-Up Scheme
  • 7.2.4 SCAMP File Structure
  • 7.3 Procedure
  • 7.3.1 Lexical Measures
  • 7.3.2 Syntactic Measures
  • 7.3.3 Errors and Instances of Cross-Linguistic Influence
  • 7.3.4 Analyses Performed
  • Chapter VIII: Results
  • 8.1 Measures of Accuracy
  • 8.2 Lexicon
  • 8.3 Syntax
  • 8.4 Cross-Linguistic Influences
  • 8.5 Summary of Research Findings
  • Chapter IX: Discussion and Implications
  • 9.1 Verified Hypotheses
  • 9.1.1 Minority Language Impediment Etiology
  • 9.1.2 Origins of Cross-Linguistic Influence
  • 9.1.3 Operationalization of Language Dominance through Transfer Polarity
  • 9.1.4 Accuracy of Parental Assessment of Language Dominance
  • 9.1.5 Bilingual Deficit Etiology
  • 9.2 Unverified Hypothesis
  • 9.3 Methodological Implications
  • 9.4 Theoretical Implications
  • 9.4.1 The Demonstrative-as-Determiner Transfer Rule and the Universal Overt Subject Rule
  • 9.4.2 Major to Minor Transfer Polarity
  • 9.4.3 Parental Role
  • 9.4.4 Narrative Modelling Effect
  • 9.4.5 The Case for “Benign Transfer”
  • 9.5 Pedagogical Implications
  • 9.5.1 Parental Involvement and Home Environment Remedial Strategies
  • 9.5.2 Formal Education and Replicating the Benefits of Primary Bilingualism in Secondary Bilingualism
  • 9.6 Further Research
  • References
  • Index Lists

Marcin Opacki

Reconsidering Early Bilingualism

A Corpus-Based Study of Polish Migrant Children in the United Kingdom

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About the author

Marcin Opacki is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the University of Warsaw. His research interests revolve around the description and modelling of natural language using formally annotated corpora. In particular, he investigates the applications of corpus-based methodologies in psycholinguistic research.

About the book

This book investigates the language of Polish-English bilingual children raised in the United Kingdom and their Polish monolingual counterparts. It exemplifies the lexico-grammatical knowledge of both groups and uses corpus-based grammatical inference in order to establish the source of the impediment of the minority language of the bilingual group. The author applies the methodology of corpus linguistics and narrative analysis to study the language of young bilinguals. He presupposes the caveat that a child-type competence exists and can be contrasted with an adult-type competence. He uses a variety of corpus frequency measures to compare the specific stylometric features of bilingual child narratives and their monolingual counterparts. The book focuses on how bilingual and monolingual language differs in areas such as the lexicon, morphosyntax and semantics.

This eBook can be cited

This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my thesis advisor, prof. Gozdawa-Gołębiowski (Ph.D., D.Litt.), for his mentorship and guidance. Not only did he make this book possible, but, by nurturing my nature, he also helped me grow as a person and researcher.

I would also like to thank my designated assistant thesis advisor, dr Agnieszka Otwinowska-Kasztelanic (Ph.D.), for her persistent, insistent, and meticulous dedication towards the legibility and clarity of my book and for sharing her insights on bilingualism with me.

Furthermore, I extend my thanks to dr Ewa Haman (Ph.D., D.Psy.) and dr Zofia Wodniecka (Ph.D.) who allowed me to use their data set in my study. I would also like to acknowledge the remaining members of the BI-SLI team as well as my own NPRH research team whose expert feedback on linguistics, psychology, statistical analysis, and research methodology in general remains ever so appreciated, Natalia Banasik, Małgorzata Foryś, Karolina Mieszkowska, Dariusz Zembrzuski, Magdalena Wrembel (Ph.D.), Marta Marecka (Ph.D.), and Jakub Szewczyk (Ph.D).

I must not neglect to mention prof. Jerzy Rubach (Prof., D.Litt), prof. Małgorzata Grzegorzewska (Prof., D.Litt), prof. Emma Harris (D.Litt), of my Alma Mater, the University of Warsaw, and prof. Adam Przepiórkowski (D.Sci.) and prof. Elżbieta Hajnicz (D.Sci.) of the Institute of Computer Science, Polish Academy of Sciences (IPI PAN), all of whom helped me throughout my Ph.D. studies, granting me the freedom to pursue my interests. Given this opportunity, I would also like to thank the people of the ICS PAS in general for allowing me to participate in their seminars, which, through osmosis, expanded my knowledge of natural language processing and constraint-based syntax.

I would also like to show my appreciation for dr Błażej Gałkowski (Ph.D.) who sparked my interest in corpus linguistics, dr Piotr Bański (Ph.D.), for commenting on the structure of my XML documents, and dr hab. Zbigniew Możejko (Ph.D., D.Litt), for strengthening my resolve and making me believe in myself.

Naturally, I would also like to thank those closest and dearest to me, my family and friends, who have all been my rock all these years. Why I love you all in equal measure, I shall nominally credit Dominik Cysewski, because he actually listened when I told him about my work, my dad, Cezary, for his methodological insights, and my mom, Lidia, for feeding me as I labored to finish this tome.

Lastly, I would like to thank all those who would take great offense had I done otherwise.←7 | 8→ ←8 | 9→

Table of Contents

Glossary of Terms and Abbreviations

Terms and Abbreviations

Grammatical Glossary Notation

The Structure of this Book

Abstract

Chapter I: The Objectives and Hypotheses
of the Present Book

1.1 Justification of Research and Methodology

1.2 Main Objective

1.3 Research Questions and Thesis Statements

1.3.1 Minority Language Impediment Etiology

1.3.2 Origins of Cross-Linguistic Influence

1.3.3 Operationalization of Language Dominance through Transfer Polarity

1.3.4 Accuracy of Parental Assessment of Language Dominance

1.3.5 Narrative Retelling Modelling Effect

1.3.6 Bilingual Deficit Etiology

1.4 Conclusion

Chapter II: Bilingualism and Multilingualism

2.1 Two Languages versus Many

2.2 Definitions and Taxonomies of Bilingualism

2.3 History of Research into Multiple Language Modalities

2.4 The Impact of Multilingualism and Bilingualism

2.5 Conclusion

Chapter III: Childhood Bilingualism in a Polish Context

3.1 Monolingual Language Acquisition in Polish Children

3.2 Bilingual Language Acquisition

3.3 Modelling Bilingualism←9 | 10→

3.4 Typologies of Childhood Bilingualism

3.5 Conclusion

Chapter IV: Cross-Linguistic Influence in Bilinguals

4.1 Language Dominance

4.2 Approaches to Language Transfer

4.3 Research into Constraints on Language Transfer

4.3.1 The Role of the Syntax-Pragmatics Interface

4.3.2 The Effect of Informativeness on Argument Structure

4.3.3 The Efficacy of Informativeness as a Predictor of
Argument Structure

4.3.4 The Role of the Syntax-Semantics Interface

4.3.5 The Role of Input

4.4 Code-Mixing and Code-Switching

4.4.1 Mixing vs. Switching

4.4.2 Frameworks

4.5 Conclusion

Chapter V: Approaches to the Study of Bilingual Child Narratives

5.1 On the Emergence of Narratives

5.1.1 Every Human is a Tale-Teller, and Every Human is a Listener

5.1.2 Why study Narratives?

5.2 Approaches to Narrative Analysis

Details

Pages
334
Publication Year
2016
ISBN (ePUB)
9783631705353
ISBN (MOBI)
9783631705360
ISBN (PDF)
9783653072501
ISBN (Hardcover)
9783631677278
DOI
10.3726/978-3-653-07250-1
Language
English
Publication date
2017 (September)
Keywords
Psycholinguistics Generative linguistics Narrative analysis Applied linguistics Corpus linguistics Bilingualism
Published
Frankfurt am Main, Bern, Bruxelles, New York, Oxford, Warszawa, Wien, 2017. 334 pp., 50 b/w ill., 8 b/w tables

Biographical notes

Marcin Opacki (Author)

Marcin Opacki is an Assistant Professor of Linguistics at the University of Warsaw. His research interests revolve around the description and modelling of natural language using formally annotated corpora. He investigates in particular the applications of corpus-based methodologies in psycholinguistic research.

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Title: Reconsidering Early Bilingualism