Chapter 3
Acquisition
How would you describe the language acquisition situation of a hearing child in a deaf family who is offered both a sign language and a spoken language? What makes this situation different from the sign language acquisition of a deaf child of deaf parents, and the spoken language acquisition of a hearing child of hearing parents?
The hearing child in a deaf family is growing up bilingual with full access to both a signed and spoken language. The child has the chance to become a competent bimodal bilingual. The deaf child of deaf parents will also be exposed to both a signed and spoken language, but has more limited access to the spoken language. Potentially, given enough exposure to both languages, a deaf child can also become a competent bimodal bilingual. The hearing child with hearing parents is often monolingual but can of course also be bilingual.