Language development in bilingual babies: no delays, just a few adjustments
To some of us, it may seem strange to talk about bilingual babies, but not to Professor Christopher Fennell of the University of Ottawa's School of Psychology. He's one of only a handful of researchers in the world studying language development in bilingual babies. In fact, aside from his uOttawa language-development lab, only three others exist across the globe, and he's affiliated with all of them.
Prof. Fennell's initial research focussed on the basics of language perception, and that led to more complex questions like, "How does that very basic speech perception influence a baby's ability to learn language?"
Research has shown, for instance, that monolingual toddlers learn to distinguish similar-sounding words at around 17 months old. Professor Fennell has found that bilingual infants start to do this at 20 months. "This is the most fascinating period of language development," he says. "Infants go from nothing to having a lot of words in the space of two years. It really is the explosion of initial language."
But Prof. Fennell doesn't at all believe the "delay" in sound distinction is a hindrance. Bilingual babies are simply learning an adaptive strategy because they're facing a more challenging language environment. That strategy sees them unconsciously ignore some of the sound cues they receive so that they can concentrate on matching the word with the object it represents.
"It's adaptive. There's no pressure from their vocabulary to make sure they get everything, because they do not have many similar-sounding words," says Fennell. "That's why we don't think it's a delay in the negative sense at all. They're not delayed in overall language. In fact, bilinguals have more words than monolinguals when both vocabularies are counted."
In Canada, where many children are raised in both official languages, Professor Fennel's research is particularly relevant, and the University of Ottawa is an ideal location for his language lab given the national capital's highly bilingual nature.
By François Rochon
Published: October 2009