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The role of majority and minority language input in the early development of a bilingual vocabulary*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2015

JELSKE DIJKSTRA ,
FOLKERT KUIKEN ,
RENÉ J. JORNA  and
EDWIN L. KLINKENBERG
JELSKE DIJKSTRA*
Affiliation:
Fryske Akademy, Leeuwarden, University of Amsterdam
FOLKERT KUIKEN
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam
RENÉ J. JORNA
Affiliation:
Fryske Akademy, Leeuwarden, University of Groningen
EDWIN L. KLINKENBERG
Affiliation:
Fryske Akademy, Leeuwarden
*
Address for correspondence: Jelske Dijkstra, Fryske Akademy, PO Box 54, 8900 AB Leeuwarden, the Netherlandsjdijkstra@fryske-akademy.nl
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Abstract

The current longitudinal study investigated the role of home language and outside home exposure in the development of Dutch and Frisian vocabulary by young bilinguals. Frisian is a minority language spoken in the north of the Netherlands. In three successive test rounds, 91 preschoolers were tested in receptive and productive vocabulary in both languages. Results showed a home language effect for Frisian receptive and productive vocabulary, and Dutch productive vocabulary, but not for Dutch receptive vocabulary. As for outside home exposure, an effect was found on the receptive vocabulary tests only. The results can be explained by the amount of L2-input that participants received. The Dutch input is higher for participants with Frisian as home language compared to the Frisian input for participants with Dutch as home language. The conclusions lead to further implications for language professionals working in language minority contexts.

Keywords

bilingual vocabularylanguage inputminority languagepreschoolerslongitudinal
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 191 - 205
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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Footnotes

*

We are grateful to publisher Bohn Stafleu van Loghum, Liesbeth Schlichting and Henk Lutje Spelberg for making a pre-published version of the Dutch subtest Woordontwikkeling of the Schlichting Test voor Taalproductie II available to us. Further we would like to express our gratitude to our test assistants Irene Brinkman, Maaike Denissen, Brenda Kuipers, Marita Oosterheerd, Tineke Smeding and Tineke Visser. Finally, we want to say a special word of thanks to Henk Guldemond for his assistance in multilevel analysis.

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