In-Between Languages: Language Shift/Maintenance in Childhood Bilingualism

• Autores: Agnes Bolonyai
• Localización: International Journal of Bilingualism: interdisciplinary studies of multilingual behaviour, ISSN 1367-0069, Vol. 2, Nº. 1, 1998, págs. 21-43
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This paper examines structural consequences of intensive language contact on simultaneous L1 and L2 child language development in an L2-dominant environment. Based on the assumption that structural processes in language contact are operating at and determined by abstract complex lexical structure, various structural configurations in bilingual speech (e.g., codeswitching, convergence, and a Composite Matrix Language) are explained in terms of three levels of abstract lexical structure: the lexical-conceptual structure, predicate-argument structure, and morphological realization patterns. Empirical evidence from Hungarian/English bilingual speech demonstrates that as a result of a turnover in the Matrix Language abstract lexical structure can be “split” and “recombined” in such a way that surface structure is projected by an underlying grammatical system which is a composite. Prevalent changes and patterns of linguistic structure are interpreted in relation to ongoing language shift to L2, or L1 maintenance/attrition