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Language mixing in bilingual children*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 September 2008

Kathryn J. Lindholm  and
A. M. Padilla
Kathryn J. Lindholm
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
A. M. Padilla
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
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Abstract

Language samples of five Spanish/English bilingual children between the ages of 2; 10 and 6; 2 were examined for language mixes. Only 2% of the total utterances examined contained mixes. The most common type of mix involved the insertion of single lexical entries – mostly English nouns into Spanish utterances. Very few phrasal mixes were observed. It was concluded that language mixes do not constitute a major interference in the acquisition of bilingualism since children appear to be able to differentiate their two linguistic systems from an early age.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Child Language , Volume 5 , Issue 2 , June 1978 , pp. 327 - 335
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1978

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Footnotes

[*]

The research reported in this paper was supported by Research Grant GY11534 from the National Science Foundation, and Research Grant 3302 from the University of California, LosAngeles. Authors' address: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024.

References

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