Language switching and concept development in young Welsh/English bilingual children
This thesis is a study of language switching and concept development in Welsh-English bilingual children aged between 3 and 7 years. The main aim is to study these from an interdisciplinary perspective. A second aim is to increase knowledge of Welsh/English bilingualism. The literature review is wide-ranging, discussing both language switching, and bilingual language development. Studies of switching both within sentences and within conversations are considered, as are linguistic, sociological and psychological explanations for the phenomenon. Studies on cognitive differences between bilingual and monolingual children are also discussed. The empirical part of the thesis utilises data drawn from a study carried out at the University College of Wales, and funded by the Welsh Office. The data consists of language switches produced in recordings made of the language of three to six year old Welsh/English bilinguals. These switches are described and analysed in the light of previous literature on the topic, with particular reference to children who switch frequently and to the types of switches produced. Models previously used in the literature for the analysis of such data are discussed and an alternative approach
Piette, Brec'hed
Linguistics
Language switching and concept development in young Welsh/English bilingual children. This thesis is a study of language switching and concept development in Welsh-English bilingual children aged between 3 and 7 years. The main aim is to study these from an interdisciplinary perspective. A second aim is to increase knowledge of Welsh/English bilingualism. The literature review is wide-ranging, discussing both language switching, and bilingual language development. Studies of switching both within sentences and within conversations are considered, as are linguistic, sociological and psychological explanations for the phenomenon. Studies on cognitive differences between bilingual and monolingual children are also discussed. The empirical part of the thesis utilises data drawn from a study carried out at the University College of Wales, and funded by the Welsh Office. The data consists of language switches produced in recordings made of the language of three to six year old Welsh/English bilinguals. These switches are described and analysed in the light of previous literature on the topic, with particular reference to children who switch frequently and to the types of switches produced. Models previously used in the literature for the analysis of such data are discussed and an alternative approach
language switch concept development young welsh_english bilingual_child study language switch concept development welsh_english bilingual_child age main_aim study interdisciplinary perspective second_aim increase_knowledge welsh_english bilingualism literature_review wide_ranging discuss language bilingual language development studies switch within sentence within conversation consider linguistic sociological psychological explanation_phenomenon studies cognitive difference bilingual monolingual_child also_discuss empirical part utilise_data drawn study_carry university college wales fund welsh office data_consist language switch produce recording make language welsh_english bilingual switch describe analysed light previous_literature topic particular_reference child switch frequently type switch produce models previously use literature analysis_data discuss alternative