Bilingual children have both of their languages active in their brains, which can influence their language usage. For instance, a Greek-Dutch child may associate “apotheek” with “barn” due to similarities with the Greek word “αποθήκη.” Similarly, a French-Dutch child might structure sentences based on French grammar. Linguist Elly Koutamanis emphasizes that these instances don’t signify confusion or deficiency but rather highlight how languages are processed. The activation of information from both languages can sometimes interfere but can also have positive effects, such as facilitating understanding of words with similar meanings across languages. Koutamanis will be awarded her Ph.D. for research on language interaction in bilingual children.
Bilingual children cannot ‘turn off’ their language knowledge, says researcher
< 1 min read
