Description of the study

The subject and her language background

The subject of this study is an only child, Kate, who has been exposed to English and Dutch virtually from birth onwards. The age period studied covers the 8 months from 2;7 to 3;4.

Kate's case is one of bilingual first language acquisition in the more narrow sense of the term as we defined it in Chapter 1: as will be explained below, first exposure to two languages occurred within the period of a week, and exposure to two languages was regular up to and including the period of investigation to be reported on here.

Kate was born of an American mother and a Flemish father in a hospital near Antwerp, Belgium, where the language used by the nursing staff in conversations with patients is a standard-like variety of Dutch as spoken in Flanders. Kate roomed in with her English-speaking mother, who stayed in hospital for a week. Kate's Dutch-speaking father was present at the birth and afterwards visited daily. In her first days of life, Kate heard English spoken to her by her mother, and Dutch by her father and various members of the nursing staff. Thus, first exposure to two languages occurred within the period of a week.

Kate lived with both her parents up to and including the period of investigation and was usually addressed in a different language by each parent.