Phonological acquisition in three languages : a cross-sectional study in English, Mandarin and Malay
The complex multiracial/multilingual situation of Malaysia poses challenges for local professionals, such as speech and language therapists, who work with children. The present cross-sectional study investigated ethnic Chinese children's simultaneous phonological acquisition of English, Mandarin and Malay, which are the three major local languages for the Malaysian Chinese population. The aims were to provide preliminary normative data on phonological acquisition for this population, as well as to investigate processes underlying multilingual phonological acquisition. Sixty-four pre-school children aged between 2;06-4;05 were recruited. A single-word naming test, a word consistency production subtest and an intonation imitation sub-test were devised for each of the three languages. Particular attention was paid to the characteristics of the local adult speech varieties as the benchmark for assessing and analyzing the children's responses on the tests. This sociolinguistic dimension has often been neglected in previous research with similar populations, where non-local, e.g. ~standard~ adult varieties have been taken to be the language model for the children being studied. The children's phonological acquisition
Woan, Lim Hui
Phonological acquisition in three languages : a cross-sectional study in English, Mandarin and Malay. The complex multiracial/multilingual situation of Malaysia poses challenges for local professionals, such as speech and language therapists, who work with children. The present cross-sectional study investigated ethnic Chinese children's simultaneous phonological acquisition of English, Mandarin and Malay, which are the three major local languages for the Malaysian Chinese population. The aims were to provide preliminary normative data on phonological acquisition for this population, as well as to investigate processes underlying multilingual phonological acquisition. Sixty-four pre-school children aged between 2;06-4;05 were recruited. A single-word naming test, a word consistency production subtest and an intonation imitation sub-test were devised for each of the three languages. Particular attention was paid to the characteristics of the local adult speech varieties as the benchmark for assessing and analyzing the children's responses on the tests. This sociolinguistic dimension has often been neglected in previous research with similar populations, where non-local, e.g. ~standard~ adult varieties have been taken to be the language model for the children being studied. The children's phonological acquisition
phonological_acquisition language cross_sectional study english mandarin malay complex multiracial multilingual situation malaysia pose challenge local professional speech language work child present cross_sectional study_investigate ethnic chinese child simultaneous phonological_acquisition english mandarin malay three_major local_language malaysian chinese population aim_provide preliminary normative data phonological_acquisition population well investigate process_underlie multilingual phonological_acquisition sixty pre school_child recruit single_word naming test word consistency production intonation imitation sub test devise language particular_attention_pay characteristic local adult speech variety benchmark assess analyze child responses test sociolinguistic dimension often_neglect previous similar population non_local standard adult variety take language model child study child_phonological acquisition