Mandarin-Italian Dual-Language Children's Comprehension of Head-Final and Head-Initial Relative Clauses.

ABSTRACT: The acquisition of languages by children using two languages is a matter of debate as many factors contribute to the success of this type of acquisition. We focus on how the competence of dual-language children changes in their two languages as a function of length of exposure and establish whether there are reciprocal influences during language development. We examined the comprehension of subject and object relative clauses in a group of 6-year-old (younger) and 8-year-old (older) Mandarin-Italian dual-language children. After 3 years of regular and intensive exposure to Italian, the younger group reached the same level of competence in the comprehension of relative clauses in their two languages, and after 5 years of exposure to Italian, the older group had a better comprehension of rel

SUBMITTER: Hu S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7431764 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature