| Chapter 2: | Research on Bilingual First Language Acquisition |
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hypothesis versus the separate development hypothesis. For overviews of the most prominent studies contributing to this debate, I recommend Meisel (1989, 2001, 2004), Genesee (1989, 2000), De Houwer, (1990, 1995, 2005, 2009), Lanza (1990, 1997), and Deuchar and Quay (2000).
2.2. Type and Variety of Language Input
Vihman and McLaughlin (1982) pointed out that language input in cases of the simultaneous acquisition of two languages should be considered in relation to at least two parameters: (a) input in the home versus input outside it in the community, and (b) monolingual versus bilingual (termed “mixed”) input from each interlocutor. Vihman and McLaughlin distinguished between two basic environments—home and community—and between three types of language use or language input to which the bilingual children are exposed: (a) each person using one language; (b) each person engaging in mixed use; and (c) each person engaging in environment-bound language use, employing one language at home and another in the community. Each environment—that is, home or community—may be characterised by one of the three basic types of language use; the distribution of each type of language use across home and community may contribute to a simultaneous bilingual presentation to the child.
Vihman and McLaughlin’s parameters are only partially reflected in Harding and Riley’s (1986) typology of bilingual families, which was also adopted by Romaine (1995). On the basis of such questions, Romaine (1995) classified the main types of early childhood bilingualism into six categories. Five of them were also described by Harding and Riley (1986, pp. 47–48). Romaine (1995) classified bilingual families according to parents’ languages, the community language, and parental “strategy.” Although reference to the parents’ and the community’s language parallels Vihman and McLaughlin’s reference to home and community input, Romaine dealt with the parameter of monolingual versus bilingual input only in relation to parental strategy. The following outline summarises Romaine’s main types of early childhood bilingualism.