Acquisition of basic grammatical skills

Intercultural children hear (and speak) two different languages during language acquisition. This results in reduced input in each of the languages. Furthermore, the world’s languages differ in many ways. Simple illustrative examples
are the following. Languages differ in how many consonants (sounds) they use to form words: There are languages that get by with 6 consonants (Rokotas) while others use 122 different consonants (!Xóõ). The amount of information in
a word also differs: Languages like German or English combine 2-3 different pieces of information in one word (person, tense, number) while languages like Chintang mark 7 more pieces of information in addition to these 3 (e.g., clusivity,
mood, aspect, polarity). Thus, not every language combination has to be equally easy to learn.

In this research project, I investigate: How can we determine the grammatical skills of intercultural children? How does language similarity affects the acquisition of basic grammatical skills? Which other factors influence which linguistic
skills intercultural children acquire and use?

Monolinguals’ and bilinguals’ relative preference for IDS and ADS was assessed across 17 laboratories on four continents. Greater
exposure to IDS language was associated with a stronger IDS preference.

ManyBabies Consortium (2021)

Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science

Infants’ relative preference for IDS and ADS was assessed across 67 laboratories in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The IDS preference was significantly stronger in older children and in those children
for whom the stimuli matched their native language and dialect.

ManyBabies Consortium (2020)

Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science

Language-specific phonetic implementation of sounds determines early childhood perception patterns. While the German VOT contrast is discriminated by German infants throughout the first 15 months of life, the Swiss German
closure duration contrast is discriminated not before 11 months of age.

Schönhuber, Czeke, Gampe, & Grijzenhout (2019)

Journal of Phonetics

We have developed a touch-screen based instrument for bilingual children that measures the separate lexicon sizes in both languages, the total vocabulary (if I can name “house” in two languages, I get two vocabulary points)
and the conceptual vocabulary (if I can name “house” in one or two language(s), I get one vocabulary point).

Gampe, Kurthen, & Daum (2018)

First Language

Our research shows that the greater the linguistic differences between the two languages of intercultural children, the smaller the lexicon, morphology and syntax available.

Gampe, Quick, & Daum (2021)

Journal of Language Contact

We constructed and validated a language scale for children betweeen 1.5 and 2.5 years of age that measures the lexicon, morphology and syntax of children acquiring Swiss German.