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Language Variation - European Perspectives VI: Selected papers from the Eighth International Conference on Language Variation in Europe (ICLaVE 8), Leipzig, May 2015
Edited by Isabelle Buchstaller and Beat Siebenhaar
[Studies in Language Variation 19] 2017
► pp. 85–98

Inter-individual variation among young children growing up in a bidialectal community

The acquisition of dialect and standard Dutch vocabulary

| Utrecht University
| Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University | Meertens Institute Amsterdam
| Department of Special Education, Utrecht University
| Fryske Akademy
| Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Maastricht University | Meertens Institute Amsterdam

This study focuses on the relationship between dialect use and the acquisition of standard Dutch vocabulary by young children in the Dutch province of Limburg. The results of a newly-developed dialect expressive vocabulary task show extensive inter-individual variation that does not support a dichotomous distinction between monolingual and bidialectal children. The children’s dialect vocabulary scores are neither positively nor negatively associated with their results on a standardized receptive Dutch vocabulary task. Thus, the acquisition of a dialect does not hinder or facilitate the acquisition of standard Dutch vocabulary.

Keywords: bidialectal acquisition, inter-speaker variation, inter-item variation, Dutch vocabulary, dialect vocabulary, classification of children
Article outline
  • 1. Introduction: Bidialectism in the Dutch province of Limburg
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants and procedure
    • 2.2Measures
      • 2.2.1Dialect proficiency
      • 2.2.2Dutch language proficiency
    • 2.3Parental questionnaire, and overview of participants and results
  • 3.Results of the Limburgish Word Task
  • 4.Relationship between the extent of dialect used in the LWT and the acquisition of Dutch vocabulary
  • 5. Discussion and conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 26 July 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/silv.19.05fra
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