The development of bimodal bilingualism

Abstract

A wide range of linguistic phenomena contribute to our understanding of the architecture of the human linguistic system. In this paper we present a proposal dubbed Language Synthesis to capture bilingual phenomena including code-switching and ‘transfer’ as automatic consequences of the addition of a second language, using basic concepts of Minimalism and Distributed Morphology. Bimodal bilinguals, who use a sign language and a spoken language, provide a new type of evidence regarding possible bilingual phenomena, namely code-blending, the simultaneous production of (aspects of) a message in both speech and sign. We argue that code-blending also follows naturally once a second articulatory interface is added to the model. Several different types of code-blending are discussed in connection to the predictions of the Synthesis model. Our primary data come from children developing as bimodal bilinguals, but our proposal is intended to capture a wide range of bilingual effects across any language pair.

Acquisition of Classifier Constructions in HKSL by Bimodal Bilingual Deaf Children of Hearing Parents

“…As for bimodal bilingualism, research shows that crosslinguistic influence is observed in structures not predicted by such conditions (Lillo-Martin et al, 2010), and findings for the structures that satisfy these two conditions run counter to predictions (Koulidobrova, 2012, 2016). Recently, Language Synthesis (Koulidobrova, 2012, 2016; Lillo-Martin et al, 2012, 2014, 2016) has been proposed to account for the various language interaction effects observed in bimodal bilingualism (see the next section). The proposal is based on MacSwan's (2000, 2005) accounts for code-switching, in which he argues for one computational system with separate lexicons and separate Phonetic Forms (PFs) for different languages.…”

“…We will first summarize the word order issues that have been documented in bimodal bilingual acquisition of a number of language pairs. Then, we introduce Language Synthesis, recently proposed to account for language interaction effects such as code blending, code switching, as well as crosslingusitic influence and transfer (Lillo-Martin et al, 2016). Based on these discussions, we compare the verb root and word order issues with the relevant constructions between Cantonese and HKSL.…”

“…As previously discussed, Language Synthesis has been put forward to account for code switching, code blending, crosslinguistic influence in early language development, transfer in second language acquisition, and calquing in language contact situations (see Lillo-Martin et al, 2016 for a detailed illustration). This model has its basis in Distributed Morphology, which posits that it is the selected roots and atomic features in the Numeration (i.e., List 1) that enter the syntactic computation, and insertion of Vocabulary Items from List 2 is a late phenomenon taking place after Spell-Out to the PF branch (Harley, 2014).…”

“…Embracing two paths toward PF after Spell-out, one for sign and the other for speech, the process allows simultaneous realization of the possible mix of elements from Lx and Ly, resulting in code blending. Additionally, Lillo-Martin et al (2016) suggest that the apparent crosslinguistic influence is actually bimodal bilingual effects, meaning that in the constant absence of forced language choice (i.e., inhibition), bimodal bilinguals are “accustomed” to practicing choosing grammatical elements between Lx and Ly during Numeration and Vocabulary Insertion. The so-called crosslinguistic influence is only a reflection of bimodal bilinguals' capacity for language synthesis.…”

Brazilian Bimodal Bilinguals as Heritage Signers

“…Relatedly, another relevant factor in language variation across our participants had to do with their professional involvement with Deaf people, since one of the participants is a professional sign language interpreter. This research is the first step in our understanding of language variation in bimodal bilinguals; additional research considers the ways that bimodal bilinguals combine their languages in the code-blending phenomenon, which provides further means to investigate the nature of heritage bimodal bilingualism Lillo-Martin et al 2016). …”