| Chapter 2: | Research on Bilingual First Language Acquisition |
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Type 1: One person, one language
Parents: The parents have different native languages to one another, and each has some degree of competence in the other’s language.
Community: The language of one of the parents is the dominant language of the community.
Strategy: Each parent speaks his or her own language to the child from birth.
Type 2: Nondominant home language or one language, one environment
Parents: The parents have different native languages to one another.
Community: The language of one of the parents is the dominant language of the community.
Strategy: Both parents speak the nondominant language to the child, who is fully exposed to the dominant language only when outside the home, and in particular in nursery school.
Type 3: Nondominant home language without community support
Parents: The parents share the same native language.
Community: The dominant language is not that of the parents.
Strategy: The parents speak their own language to the child.
Type 4: Double nondominant home language without community support
Parents: The parents have different native languages to one another.
Community: The dominant language is different from both of the parents’ languages.
Strategy: The parents each speak their own language to the child from birth.
Type 5: Nonnative parents
Parents: The parents share the same native language.
Community: The dominant language is the same as that of the parents.
Strategy: One of the parents always addresses the child in a language which is not his or her native language.