Abstract: In the paper the authors distinguish the acquisition of the first language/mother tongue from the acquisition of another second /foreign language at a later stage. Hence, due to the presumptive differences in language acquisition processes the terms first language acquisition and second language acquisition seem to be more precise. The first language acquisition can be monolingual (the most common case), or bilingual, even multilingual. A child growing up in a bilingual family can have two mother tongues. The first language (the language in which the child starts communicating) and the mother tongue (the language of the ethnic group that the individual belongs to) needn't necessarily be the same, although it is the most common. The authors point out that bilingual development differs from monolingual development. A bilingual child has to discover and internalize two languages with all their specific features, and is exposed to an increased socio-cultural stimulation, as well as to the need to 'switch' from one language to another. The second language acquisition takes place after the acquisition of the foundation of the first language/s. Another difference is age related (children learn languages differently from adults) because of the fact that the development of the mother tongue is not completed when a child starts learning another language. Even in childhood there is early bilingualism (the acquisition of both languages up to the age of four), and late bilingualism - the acquisition of the second language after the age of four. Then there are symmetric bilingualism (equal knowledge of both languages), and asymmetric bilingualism - a lower level of the second language (passive bilingualism, unreceptive bilingualism). Some other forms of bilingualism are also mentioned: complex bilingualism coordinated bilingualism, subordinated bilingualism, and semi-bilingualism.
Publication Year: 2002
Publication Date: 2002-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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