The influence of child-directed speech in early trilingualism

Abstract

Contexts of limited input such as trilingual families where a language is not spoken in the wider community but only by a reduced number of speakers in the home provide a unique opportunity to examine closely the relationship between a child's input and what she learns to say. Barnes reported on the relationship between maternal input and a trilingual child's use of the interrogative in English. Taking as a basis the fact that the child's language is likely to reflect that of the mother, the present study explores further patterns of similarity or difference between the language of parent and child. Instances of linguistic and cultural influence in the child's English which may be traced back to the language of the main provider of input are identified, giving insights into input-related processes and the way parental background may also influence the child's discourse skills in situations where input is limited to one parent in the home.

Keywords:

• child-directed speech
• trilingual development
• limited input
• parental background
• linguistic and cultural influence

Acknowledgements

I am extremely grateful to Suzanne Quay for her very helpful comments and suggestions throughout the preparation of this paper. I also thank the three anonymous reviewers who gave advice on an earlier version. All shortcomings are my own.

Notes

1. Acceptable feedback is when an acceptable response is given to an interrogative. Unacceptable feedback is when the interlocutor takes up the turn but does not reply to the interrogative. No feedback (none) refers to cases when there is no uptake to the question so the speaker reformulates it.