This article reports on a study into the acquisition of Welsh and English phonology in Welsh -English bilingual children. It concentrates on the acquisition of the rhotic consonants, that is the trilled -r of Welsh and the approximant-r of English. The trilled -r shows differential patterns of acquisition depending on the age and language dominance of the subjects. It also demonstrates a wide range of substitutions, and it is argued that some of these may be due to influence from English, while others seem to be used because of their acoustic similarity to the target. Much less variation is found with the substitutions used for approximantr, and it is shown that, again, there is an acoustic reason for the choice of the commonest of them. While the two sounds clearly are different, neither the trill nor the approximant demonstrate 100% accurate usage even in the oldest age group of subjects (4;6 -5;0) (although the approximant does approach 90% ). Therefore, they belong to the group of consonants acquired last in their respective languages.
This article reports on a study into the acquisition of Welsh phonology in bilingual Welsh-English children. It concentrates on the acquisition of the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative, which showed a wide range of substitutions, and differential patterns of development dependent on the dominant language of the subjects, and the position within the word of the target. Various substitution strategies are described, including fricatives, and fricatives plus lateral. It is noted that in these two categories, velar fricatives become increasingly common in later age ranges, especially with the English dominant speakers. It is argued that this is because, unlike front fricatives, the velar fricative shares several important acoustic characertistics with the lateral fricative: namely, a formant-like structure and the same top limit to the noise spectra.
Creating an information architecture for a bilingual Web site presents particular challenges beyond those that exist for single and multilanguage sites. This article reports work in progress on the development of a contentbased bilingual Web site to facilitate the sharing of resources and information between Speech and Language Therapists. The development of the information architecture is based on a combination of two aspects: an abstract structural analysis of existing bilingual Web designs focusing on the presentation of bilingual material, and a bilingual card-sorting activity conducted with potential users. Issues for bilingual developments are discussed, and some observations are made regarding the use of card-sorting activities.
The twelve chapters of this book are concerned with the primary school education of bilingual children in Britain. The introduction makes reference to the teaching of English as a second language, but there is a lengthy chapter on teaching through the medium of Welsh. Reference is also made in the introduction to 'Working with bilingual children' INSET courses held in 1992 and 1993, and some of the chapters are versions of papers presented at these courses. Other chapters are summaries of plenary sessions, but it is not clear which courses they refer to. Other chapters again appear to have emanated from the given courses, but there is no clear statement to this effect. The result is a somewhat fragmented presentation.Chapter 1 is a valuable description of classroom research into children's discourse, presented against the historical background of such research and with the inclusion of interesting data. Similarly, Chapter 3 is an effective mix of practical and theoretical aspects, the focus being the application of Cummin's theoretical framework of cognitive complexity and contextual demand to current national assessments.Attempts have been made to cover a wide range of issues, with the resulting inclusion of chapters on writing skills and on phonological acquisition. Both chapters are of value, although the theoretical basis of the work on writing skills is not presented. This can also be said of several other chapters which have a very practical emphasis. The presentation of practical issues is of potential value, but the absence of theoretical background and the brevity of some chapters gives an impression of superficiality. Overall, the difference between chapters in terms of length, theoretical depth, and clarity of focus leads to lack of cohesion. The potential value of research by such knowledgeable experienced professionals is not fully exploited.
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