Papers & Posters
(back)
Full Paper: download here
(PDF file 122 KB)
Title of Presentation:
Babbling in bilingual infants: is there evidence of code switching?
Type of Presentation:
30' paper
Biographical Information:
Nancy Johnstone is a graduate teacher from I.E.S en Lenguas Vivas "Juan Ramón Fernández", and is at present working on her dissertation for the Licenciatura en Inglés, Universidad Nacional del Litoral. She holds a chair at UBA, Facultad de Ingeniería and I.S.P. "Presb. Sáenz". She has worked at bilingual schools since 1991.
Summary of Presentation:
Are bilingual infants confused by their codes or do they already code switch during their babbling stage? This paper analyses the results of an experiment conducted as a single case study of a one-year-old being raised bilingually. The aim of the experiment was to determine whether he used a different code depending on his interlocutor's language.
Abstract:

Code switching has been studied predominantly in adults and children over the age of three. Research in younger children is scarce. The present study was conducted as a single case study on the babbling of a one-year-old who is being raised bilingually (Spanish/English). The aim of the study was to determine whether the baby babbled differently depending on the language of the interlocutor and the context. The interlocutors involved follow a one person - one language strategy of interaction with the baby. The child's spontaneous speech was recorded during interaction with his mother (English) and with his grandmother (Spanish). So as to make the contexts as clear-cut as possible, the recordings took place while the child was alone with each interlocutor at their respective homes. Samples were recorded at the age of 1:2, 1:3, and 1:4 in order to check whether the phenomenon under investigation varied as the child approached the one-word stage. The utterances were transcribed by a bilingual teacher specialized in phonetics. The data is analysed and the use of Spanish/English is discussed from a sociolinguistic perspective.

Web Master Arte & Diseño Digital . Last update Wednesday, May 5, 2004 2:57 PM