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The Sun is Feminine

A Study on Language Acquisition in Bilingual Children

  • Book
  • © 1983

Overview

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Language and Communication (SSLAN, volume 13)

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

Keywords

About this book

Lisa is 4 years and 5 months old and Giulia 3 years and 4 months. One morning, the girls' father is taking them to nursery school. L: ... e bravissima, ha riscaldato l'auto. E' bravissima, vera? In praising the sun for having warmed up the car, Lisa has referred to it in the feminine gender, as in the German die Sonne. Her father corrects her by using the masculine gender. F: E' bravissimo. E' if sale. L: E' un maschietto, if sale? (Is the sun a little boy?) F: E'maschife. (It's masculine.) G [determined]: E' una femmina! (No, it's a girl!) F: Forse in tedesco. (Perhaps it is in German.) is left disoriented, speechless. Giulia This book is devoted to language acquisition in children who have been expos­ ed to two languages since birth. It has often been said that the study of simultaneous bilingualism is the "most fertile ground" for the formulation of general theories on language acquisition processes, and indeed, most of the studies on early bilingualism aim in this direction. But in a sense this book serves the reverse purpose. Using the results of psycholinguistic research as a basis, I have sought to understand the peculiarities of the process of language organization in the child who faces the problem of learning two languages when other children are learning only one. Thus, the recurring theme of my study is the diversity of bilingual as opposed to monolingual acquisition.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Istituto di Psicologia, Università di Roma, Roma, Italy

    Traute Taeschner

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Sun is Feminine

  • Book Subtitle: A Study on Language Acquisition in Bilingual Children

  • Authors: Traute Taeschner

  • Series Title: Springer Series in Language and Communication

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-48329-5

  • Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1983

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-642-48331-8Published: 27 March 2012

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-642-48329-5Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 0172-620X

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 248

  • Topics: Psychology, general

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