A Review on Researches: Early and Late

Bilingualism
INTRODUTION
In describing bilingualism, one should take account of two factors. The
first is individual bilingualism, and the second is societal bilingualism. Individual
bilingualism concerns on the condition where a person can maintain more than
one language at the same level of proficiency. However, societal bilingualism,
rather explaining ones ability in maintaining more than one languages, it is
something related to policy, or historical background that affect the usage of the
languages in an area, therefore, causing the people living there use the languages,
sometimes not in the same proficiency.
However, if we want to look further into individual bilingualism, there are
always definitions which clearly define what bilingualism is. Hoffmann (!!"
cited in a book entitled Languages in Contact written by #einreich (!$%",
bilingualism is the practice of using two languages alternatively, and the person
involved is called bilingual. Hoffmann (!!" also strengthened this statement by
citing in &loomfields (!''" work that when a person is perfect in foreign(
language learning, having the ability of native(like control of two language,
without accompanied by native language loss, and hence resulting in bilingualism.
In conclusion, from those definitions, the condition of being bilingual is that when
a single person is able to maintain (at least" two languages and able to control
them in order to make them not overlapping each other, but still without any
explanation about whether or not they should be mastered, or used in different
situations.
&y looking at the definition of bilingualism, there are several types of
bilinguals offered by Hoffmann (!!". They can be a two(year(old child who
whose parents talk in two different languages to him)her, a young toddler whose
home language is different from the language used as medium of instruction at
school, an adolescent who has studied foreign language for several years, a wife
of a someone who comes from different country, and be able to speak the
language without being able to read or write, or a culture enthusiast who is *+
years old, and has spent many years reading manuscripts and documents written
in ,anskrit. -rom these examples, it can be seen that there is an important factor
taken account when describing bilinguals . age factor.
/s one of the considerations, the age of the bilinguals at the time of
ac0uisition may differ the terms at which a bilingual can be considered. #hen the
time of ac0uisition occurs in childhood, it is considered as early bilingualism, and
in contrast to that, late bilingualism, if the time of ac0uisition occurs in adulthood
(Haugen, !1$ and 2c3aughlin, !%* in Hoffmann, !!". -urther explained, the
cut(off point is not clearly stated, but it can be set at around the age of three to be
considered early bilingualism, and at the age of puberty to be considered late
bilingualism. 2oreover, sometimes the terms of early and late bilingualism are
associated with the terms learn and acquire the second language, in which late
bilingualism is said as someone who had learned a second language, while early
bilingualism is that someone who had ac0uired a second language (Hoffmann,
!!".
4ven though some views suggest that the two terms should only be seen
only as a reflection of the age of the bilingual, that is, the time when the person
becomes bilingual . in early childhood or in adulthood, there are always raising
some 0uestions regarding to the terms in contrast.
A ONTRA!TI"E "IE#: EARL$ AND LATE BILIN%UALI!&
The debate on deciding which side of the view (being early bilingual or
late bilingual" is better one has been conducted for decades. There is always an
opinion which believes that early bilinguals are better than late bilinguals, while
there is also an opinion which believes it in versa.
5n one side, there is a widespread of belief that associate early
bilingualism with 6true bilingualism. True here means that children who are
exposed with second language in their early life will make their mastery of the
two languages (i.e. first language and second language" becomes complete in the
future (/dler, !77 in Hoffmann, !!".
/pparently, there are two ideas taken from the concept of first language
ac0uisition to this area of second language ac0uisition. The first idea is the
3anguage /c0uisition 8evice (3/8" which was coined by 9homsky (!$1" in
&rown (:++7". 2any linguists and researchers believe that, this so(called 6device
is responsible to ones ability, especially children, in ac0uiring a language,
including the second language. /s cited from 2c;eill (!$$", &rown (:++7" in
his book, Principle of Language Learning and Teaching, described the language
ac0uisition device as consisting of four innate linguistic properties, as follows<
. The ability to distinguish speech sounds from other sounds in the
environment.
:. The ability to recogni=e linguistic data into various classes that later
can be refined.
'. >nowledge that only a certain kind of linguistic system is possible and
that other kinds of are not.
*. The ability to engage in constant evaluation of the developing
linguistic system so as to construct the simplest possible system out of
the available linguistic input.
This description let us know that by the ability of using the 3/8, children in the
early age are presumed to be creative to produce an infinite number of utterances
of a language. -urther, Hoffmann (!!<'$" also supported this description by his
statement. He stated that children are believed to have better syntactic and
phonological ability compared to adult who tend to face interference from their
native tongue toward their use of second language.
The second idea is that the existence of critical period during which
children is consider proficient in ac0uiring a language. ,covel (:+++" in /bello(
9ontesse (:++!" stated that, in terms of second language learning, children are
believed to have superiority over adults, that is, the younger the learner, the better
the learning process, and eventually yields the better outcomes. This 6critical
period usually happened between the age of two and at the age of puberty
(Hoffmann, !!". &ecause, in the age of two the brain has not reached enough
maturity to ac0uire a language, meanwhile, after puberty the brain loses its
plasticity which disallows the brain to be receptive for such task.?ounger children
are said to have special facility for neuro(muscular patterns that allows them to
easily ac0uire any pronunciation features and get fluent faster than adults do.
However, what is generally accepted is that children are free of inhibition and they
also make good mimics, also they tend to have a great capacity of learning by
playing, in which these factors contribute much positive influence to their fluency
and pronunciation.
To be in contrast with the view discussed previously, researchers from the
side who believe late bilinguals have such 6superiority over the early bilinguals
considered that bilingual children are not necessarily better compared to adult.
-rom that point they believe that, even though bilingual children may be
impressive with their speed and efficiency of ac0uiring language, at closer look
they can produce different impression, even the opposite one (Hoffmann, !!".
9hildren, at some point learn a language 0uite for a long time. They spend a lot of
time of hearing before being able to effectively use the language, usually at the
age of two, while adults are able to learn and master a language in relatively little
time.2oreover, the result is not the same even when they learn a language at the
same time span. The linguistic standards expected from a child are generally much
lower, or less sophisticated that what is expected from an adult learner.
If there is a need to refer to second language acquisition theory, in which
children ac0uisition is conceptuali=ed as being subconsciousand adult ac0uisition
is conceptuali=ed as being conscious, 2c3aughlin, et.al (!%!" in &rown (:++7"
proposed a model of second language ac0uisition in adult that may lead to the
opinion that younger child is not necessary a better bilingual. This model is called
attention(@rocessing 2odel, in which it describes that every human being (in this
case adult" has what is called as controlled and automatic processes. ontrolled
'rocesses are limited and temporary, while automatic 'rocesses are Arelatively
permanentB. The core of these processes is that adult is able to restructure their
linguistic ability by monitoring their automatic processes with their controlled
process and finally be able to master the language completely. This is the ability
that is not possessed by younger children in their second language process.
To some extent, child bilinguals may be better only in their ability of
phonetic(auditory ability, and also some of the psychological aspects (i.e.
mimicry, playfulness, and lack of inhibiting barriers". /dult ability in maintaining
sophisticated linguistic skill, and also a possession of a number of analytical skills
should not be overlooked. These aspects eventually can stand them in good
advantage when learning a second language.
RE!EAR(E! RELATED TO EARL$ AND LATE BILIN%UALI!&
To view the idea better, in this section there will be two reviews of two
researches related to bilingualism. The first research is going to be a research in
the field of early bilingualism, and the other one is the research in the field of late
bilingualism. 2ost discussion will be about how would be the existence of the
interference of the second language (3:" towards the first language (3" within
the early bilinguals and late bilinguals.
)irst Language loss in &inority Language User hildren in anada
The first research was conducted by 9humak(Horbatsch (:++%". The
research discussed how the immigrant children in 9anada enrolled in an 4nglish
language childcare center, and how is the continuation of their first language
development at home. -or these immigrant children, 4nglish is neither their first
language, nor their home language. -urthermore, many of these children have not
yet managed their first language and should soon immerse in second language
which is totally new to them. Thus, their enrollment in 4nglish(language childcare
centers begins their two(language Courney, marked by exposures to a new public
language (i.e. 4nglish" and diminished contact with the home language
(Dodrigue=, !%: in 9humak(Horbatsch, :++%".
The study involved eight immigrant families, in which mother and father
were considered separate subCects and were not grouped as a parent category.
There were four categories that should followed by all of the mothers and fathers,
namely< (a" they should be recent immigrants to 9anada, (b" their children were
enrolled in the same childcare center (i.e. 2aplewood 9hildcare 9enter", (c" their
home language at the time of the study was not 4nglish or -rench, and (d" the
childrens first language was not 4nglish or -rench. The mothers and fathers were
between '+ to *$ years old, and all of them were universities graduates. These
mothers and fathers were re0uired to fill out 0uestionnaires separately. This was
done because these immigrant mothers and fathers have different funds of
knowledge which would affect the way they answered the 0uestionnaires. The
0uestions were about the following< (a" demographics, (b" language attitudes,
beliefs, and proficiency, (c" home language practice, (d" childs language
proficiency, (e" bilingualism, and (f" language(related concerns.
The children involved in the study were * boys and * girls from those
eight families. Their length of stay in the 2aplewood 9hildcare 9enter was from
to :+ months, and their ages ranged from <+! (year<months" to '<+!. They were
also separated into two rooms, the ' youngest were put in toddler room, while the
other 1 older children were put in the preschool room.
&efore conducting the research, the researcher of this study hypothesi=ed,
that young children of minority language enrolled in second language childcare
center will continue their home language development, if mothers and fathers
consider the following first language supportive conditions< (" positive attitudes
toward both 3 and 3:, (:" positive attitude toward early child bilingualism, (c"
strong 3 impact beliefs, (d" commitment to 3 maintenance, (d" rich 3 input,
where involve consistency in active and meaningful home language use.
Talking about the findings, it seems that the hypothesis stated by the
researcher matched the findings of the study. &y looking at the mothers and
fathers language thinking, both of mothers and fathers held a pro-L1 ideology. It
is where they believe that 3 was important and not only for specific functions
and emotional links to family and relatives. -urther, there was a tendency that
mostly mothers who became anxious about the imminent loss of the home
language. There were also anxieties from overall parents about the 0uality of their
childrens home language, because the exposures of 3: in the childcare center,
even though the efforts to maintain the home language has been conducted by
mothers (who were more aware about the imminent language loss", by setting the
language rules to 3(only home rules (which was unfortunately only done by two
parents", also letting them to use code mixing between 3 and 3:, the sign of
losing the 3 was still happening.
#hat is the meaning of thisE It seems that children of early age, more
importantly, the children of minority language users cope with the difficulty of
maintaining their 3 (i.e. their home language" when there is a great exposure of
second language in their environment. /ccording to Fenesee (:++!", parents who
raise their children bilingually or think about rising them bilingually, will end up
with confuse children who are unable to separate the language. &ecause there is a
belief that infants brains are monolingual that they treat early input in two
languages as if it were single language resulting lack of master in both home
language and second language. However, it is not impossible to make a better
bilingual child. @arents should become their tower of strength and stand at the
front line to make some effort regarding the preservation their home language by
giving supportive conditionsG serving as 3 models, and providing continuous and
meaningful 3 experience, therefore the home language become a natural part of
the family.
The In*luence o* L+ on L, in Late Bilingualism: A Review to Identi*y L, Loss
in Adult Bilinguals
The following discussion will discuss a paper by @avlenko (:+++" which
summari=ed many researches on late bilingualism. The concern was about the
interference of second language on first language in adulthood. Interference is a
concept which explains any involuntary influence of one language on the other in
bilingual competence and performance. The term interference shows up both in
the field of ,3/ and in the field of bilingualism. In the field of ,3/ interference
typically limits the investigation to 3 transfer in the second language (Frass and
,elinker, !!:, p.:'* in @avlenko, :+++". #hile in the field of bilingualism,
interference is also considered in 3: influence on 3.
In this discussion paper, there are several linguistic competences which
were investigated in order to indentify the interference of 3: to 3. The main
focus of the discussion in this review is to identify which linguistic competences
yield first language loss when 3: interference to 3 occurs.
There are six linguistic competences in first language that can be interfered
by second language that has been investigated by many researchers (@avlenko,
:+++", they are< (" influence in phonology, (:" influence in morphosyntax, ('"
influence in lexicon and semantics, (*" influence on 3(based concept, (1"
influence in pragmatics, and ($" influence in rhetoric. However, not all of the
linguistic competences are influenced by the second language, to the extent of the
result of these studies. Therefore, only the discussion will only focus on the
influenced linguistic competences including the result of related studies.
The first competence that was influenced was morphosyntax competence.
This competence has something to do with 3 sentence structure which may be
the word(order rules of 3 is influenced under the 3:. -or example in the research
done by ,toessel (:+++" in @avlenko (:+++", which showed that immigrant
women had arrived in Hnited ,tates between the ages of % to ': and spent
between $ to : years in the country experienced problem with 3 sentence
structure and writing skills.
The second competence was lexicon and semantics competence. This
competence related to words repertoire and their meaning. Thus, there may be
problem in the subCect ability to recall words, and their meaning in the 3. -or
example in the research done also by 5lshtain I &ar=ilay (!!" in @avlenko
(:+++", in which they investigated their subCects, /merican who use Hebrew as
their second language, who find difficulties in retrieving numerous lexicon
because of being blocked by their Hebrew counterpart.
The third competence was that the influence of 3: on 3(based concepts.
/ccording to @avlenko (:+++", learning the second language in adulthood may
result in gradual loss of previously available concept. The research that has been
done by 9askey(,irmons and Hickerson (!77" in @avlenko (:+++" may
exemplify this. In the research, the researchers compared color concepts of
monolingual >orean, Japanese, Hindi, 9antonese, and 2andarin to the concept of
the speakers of these languages who learned 4nglish when they were adults. The
result showed that in many instances categories boundaries was lost.
The last competence that can be influenced by second language is
pragmatics competence. The loss of 3 pragmatic competence is discussed in
autobiographic narrative by >yoko 2ori (!!7" in @avlenko (:+++". /fter living
for :+ years since the age of :+, she encounter difficulties in expressing, and
understanding expression in her native language. ,he stated that, it was difficult to
understand whether or not the invitation is real, because, there was not sign in
signaling the real one. /lso, she could not tell when she was about to make a fool
of herself or to others.
ONLU!ION
&y looking at the result of those researches, first language loss does exist
in late bilingualism. However, the occurrences are not as dangerous as in early
bilingualism. /dult bilinguals will never lose their entire first language. 2ostly,
they will only lose some words, phrase, or meaning. Those bilinguals have to stay
in the country and use the language in 0uiet long time. It seems also the fre0uency
of doing conversation with their 3 users that influences the loss of their 3
linguistic competence. The more they can get in touch with the other speakers of
their first language, the higher the chance of maintaining their first language with
the existence of second language used dominantly.
;evertheless, early bilinguals tend to have more dangerous situation
regarding the first language loss. It is because they have not mastered the first
language yet when they have to encounter (and ac0uire" the second language. It
results in losing much greater aspect of the first language.
RE)ERENE
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