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Article published In:
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 1:2 (2011) ► pp.175–205

Jij doe wat girafe?

Wh-movement and inversion in Dutch-French bilingual children [*] *

| University of Toronto
| University of Toronto

In this study we consider the role of cross-linguistic influence in the domain of wh-movement and subject-verb inversion in children simultaneously acquiring Dutch and French, two typologically different languages. Wh-questions were elicited in Dutch by means of an elicited production task. The participants consisted of 5- and 7-year-old Dutch-French bilingual children, and two control groups of monolingual Dutch children and adults (N = 46). Target-like wh-fronted questions with subject-verb inversion formed the majority of responses. However, two qualitatively different structures were produced as a result of transfer from French: wh-in-situ questions and wh-fronted questions without inversion. Structural overlap approaches to transfer can predict cross-linguistic influence from the language with more structural options (French) to the one with only one interrogative construction (Dutch). However, we argue that a complexity-based theory of transfer provides a better account for the presence of the attested structures than a structural overlap approach.

Keywords: wh-questions, simultaneous bilingual acquisition, cross-linguistic influence, structural overlap, derivational complexity
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Cross-linguistic influence in the grammars of bilingual children
    • 2.1Internal and external determinants of cross-linguistic influence
    • 2.2Subject-verb inversion in bilingual children
    • 2.3 Wh-movement in bilingual children
    • 2.4Approaches to predicting transfer
  • 3. Wh-questions in Dutch and French
    • 3.1Syntax of wh-questions in Dutch
    • 3.2Acquisition of wh-questions in Dutch
    • 3.3Syntax of wh-questions in French
    • 3.4Acquisition of wh-questions in French
    • 3.5Input as a possible factor
  • 4.Study
    • 4.1Hypotheses
      • 4.2Participants
      • 4.3Methods
      • 4.4Results
  • 5.Discussion and conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 29 April 2011
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.1.2.03str
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