The acquisition of questions by a Mandarin-English bilingual child

Abstract

Linguists have been debating on whether the two languages of bilingual children develop separately since 1990s. Some studies suggest when the two languages are acquired very early in life, each language develops separately (the Separate Development Hypothesis), while others show that bilinguals’ two languages can influence each other and that the weaker language is more vulnerable to cross-linguistic influence from the dominant language (the Interdependent Development Hypothesis). This study aims to investigate the acquisition of questions by an English-Mandarin bilingual child, Luna, between the ages of 03;10 and 04;11. Specifically, it investigates Luna’s language dominance and whether there is cross-linguistic influence in her acquisition of questions in English and Mandarin. To test the hypotheses, Luna’s MLUm values in both languages were calculated in each file and all her questions, especially the non-target-like structures, were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results showed that Luna was rather balanced in the two languages during the period of investigation, and there was little evidence showing cross-linguistic influence in Luna’s acquisition of questions. The results of this study support the Separate Development Hypothesis, but not necessarily refute the Interdependent Development Hypothesis.