Lang. Acquisition Unit 6

The Unitary System Theory

• •       The two languages are represented in just one system.

• •       When recovery of language after trauma is studied, sometimes the first language recovers first, sometime the second language recovers first.

• •       In the bilingual brain there is a larger system which contains each language in smaller sub-systems.

The Dual system Theory•   

• •       The two languages are represented somehow in separate systems in the mind. Separate phonemic systems for L1 & L2.

•     This hypothesis suggests that the bilingual’s two languages are represented in a unified cognitive system.

• •       The idea of having separated systems would explain the loss of just one of the languages known by bilinguals if the individual has a lesion.

The Tripartite System Theory

• •       In the bilingual brain there are as many systems as many languages bilingual people know.

• •       In the bilingual brain there is a larger system which contains each language in

• •       This theory does not explain how bilingual people mix languages in the same sentence, and it is true that they do it.

The Subsystem Hypothesis

•     

• •       In the bilingual brain there is a larger system which contains each language in smaller sub-systems.

•   In these separate systems the brain stores all linguistic information that is not common to both languages.

• •       In the bilingual brain, there are as many systems as many languages bilingual people know.

Bilingual newborns can distinguish between different languages…

·    

•    Children can understand and identify who in the house speaks which language.

• ·       It is difficult for bilinguals to choose the correct language to communicate within a specific situation.

• ·       Bilinguals are capable of developing vocabulary and mixing words (code-switching) in two languages but get confused.

Coordinated bilingual is a person who…

• •       acquires the two languages in different contexts.

• •       learns both languages from native speakers at home, one from your mother and the other from your father, for instance.

• •       is proficient in one of the two languages.

Compound bilingual…

• ·       characterize simultaneous bilingualism in early childhood (before the age of three years).

• ·       means that the words of the weaker language are interpreted through the words of the stronger or dominant language.

• ·       belong to two separate or independent systems. When words are alike in the two languages, both have (slightly) different meanings and they can refer to different concepts.

Subordinate bilingual means that …

• •       the second language is learned with the help of the first or dominant language.

• •       characterize simultaneous bilingualism in early childhood (before the age of three years). 

• •       the mental representation of knowledge about the two languages is thought to be relatively independent.

According to one early hypothesis (Saville-Troike, 2005), when an individual has brain damage, …

• •       the last learned language would be the first to be lost.

• •       the first learned language would be the first to be lost.

• •       the last learned language would be the last to be lost.

A research analysis carried out by Christopher Almonte from the Speech-Language Pathology program, concluded that after the traumatic brain injury, the recovery pattern of language skills in a bilingual person depends on …

• •       the site of the lesion, the severity of the impact.

• •       the age of the patient and the success of the treatment methods.

• •       Both factors mentioned in this question