ACTA UNIVERSITATIS STOCKHOLMIENSIS Stockholm Slavic Studies 42 The Acquisition of Russian in a Language Contact Situation: A Case Study of a Bilingual Child in Sweden Natalia Ringblom © Natalia Ringblom and Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis, 2012 ISSN 0585-3575 ISBN 978-91-87235-00-9 Front cover: Victoria Ringblom Constructing Two Mother Tongues Printed in Sweden by US-AB, Stockholm 2012 Distributor: Stockholm University Library To all bilingual children and their parents – including my own. Contents Acknowledgments ........................................................................................ 12 1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 17 1.1. Aims of the study ................................................................................................... 20 1.2. On the nature of innovations ................................................................................. 22 1.2.1. How to define innovation ............................................................................... 22 1.2.2. On the origin of new and independent forms ................................................ 24 1.2.3. Innovations and indications of SLI? .............................................................. 24 1.3. Bilingual first language acquisition and contact linguistics .................................... 25 1.4. Bilingual language acquisition: double monolingual acquisition or acquisition of a second language? ................................................................................................. 26 1.5. The importance of studying bilingual children ....................................................... 27 1.6. The importance of the first years of life ................................................................. 27 1.7. Structure of this study ............................................................................................ 28 2 The place and the languages .................................................................... 29 2.0. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 29 2.1. Languages in Sweden ........................................................................................... 29 2.2. Typological sketch of the languages involved ....................................................... 30 2.2.1. Swedish ......................................................................................................... 31 2.2.2. Russian ......................................................................................................... 33 2.3. Differences between Russian and Swedish .......................................................... 37 2.3.1. Categories that are more difficult to acquire in Swedish ............................... 37 2.3.2. Categories that are more difficult to acquire in Russian ................................ 38 3 Theoretical approaches and previous research ........................................ 39 3.0. Introduction ............................................................................................................ 39 3.1. Theoretical approaches to language acquisition ................................................... 42 3.2. Major controversies and theoretical approaches in BFLA research ...................... 47 3.3. On defining bilingualism and being bilingual ......................................................... 48 3.4. Simultaneous vs. successive bilingualism ............................................................. 50 3.5. Interdependence or developmental autonomy? .................................................... 51 3.5.1. The Unitary Language System Hypothesis (or Gradual Differentiation Hypothesis) .................................................................................................. 52 3.5.2. The Separate Development Hypothesis ....................................................... 54 3.6. On interference between the languages ................................................................ 55 3.7. Bilingual proficiency ............................................................................................... 59 3.7.1. Levels of attainment in non-pathological L1 acquisition ................................ 60 3.7.2. Incomplete acquisition ................................................................................... 62 3.7.3.The relationship between the weaker and stronger language ....................... 63 3.8. The role of the critical period in language acquisition ............................................ 64 3.9. Individual differences and learning strategies ....................................................... 66 3.10. Previous longitudinal studies (done by parents) .................................................. 67 4 The subject of the study and the family situation ...................................... 74 4.1. The subject of the investigation ............................................................................. 74 4.2. Julia’s earliest linguistic development (before the age of one) .............................. 74 4.3. Julia’s language background ................................................................................. 77 4.4. The socio-cultural context of Julia’s earliest linguistic development ...................... 79 4.5. Julia’s interaction with her caregivers and her language experience .................... 81 5 Methods and approaches ....................................................................... 89 5.1. Case study as a research method ......................................................................... 89 5.2. Data collection ....................................................................................................... 90 5.3. Transcription and analysis ..................................................................................... 95 5.4. Pros and cons of using the researcher’s own children as subjects ....................... 98 5.5. Cumulative vocabulary .......................................................................................... 99 6 Acquisition of negation and some related categories: from first sounds to sentences ................................................................................................... 103 6.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 103 6.1.1. Why negation? ............................................................................................ 104 6.1.2. The forms and functions of negation ........................................................... 105 6.2. Negation in Julia’s data: comprehension and production .................................... 107 6.2.1. Understanding negation .............................................................................. 108 6.2.2. Reaction to negation ................................................................................... 109 6.2.3. Production of negation ................................................................................ 111 6.4. Morphological period: from frozen forms to linguistic innovations ....................... 126 Milestones in BFLA children’s early language development ............................... 128 6.5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 136 7 Language interaction in a contact situation: the place of innovations ..... 139 7.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 139 7.2. On defining innovations ....................................................................................... 141 7.3. Distinguishing between different kinds of language contact phenomena ............ 143 7.3.1. Cross-linguistic influence, interference or transfer? .................................... 143 7.3.2. Mixing .......................................................................................................... 146 7.3.3. The differences between children’s and adults’ mixings ............................. 148 7.3.4. Code-switching ............................................................................................ 148 7.3.5. Borrowings vs. code-switching .................................................................... 152 7.4. Innovations that change the structure of Russian ............................................... 154 7.5. Discussion and conclusion .................................................................................. 158 8 Language separation in early childhood: one system or two .................. 161 8.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................... 161 8.2. At what age do children distinguish between the two languages? ...................... 163 8.3. The importance of the child’s motivation ............................................................. 169 8.4. Associating words with different people .............................................................. 170 8.5. Learning by imitation and repetition ..................................................................... 172 8.6. Repair strategies and translation ......................................................................... 177 8.7. Autonomous speech ............................................................................................ 181 8.7. Discussion