Bilingual siblings : language use in families

Description

How do bilingual brothers and sisters talk to each other? Sibling language use is an uncharted area in studies of bilingualism. From a perspective of independent researcher and parent of three bilingual children Suzanne Barron-Hauwaert discusses the issues of a growing bilingual or multilingual family. What happens when there are two or more children at different stages of language development? Do all the siblings speak the same languages? Which language(s) do the siblings prefer to speak together? Could one child refuse to speak one language while another child is fluently bilingual? How do t. Read more... Content: List of Figures; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Chapter 1 What Do We Know about Bilingual Families?; Chapter 2 The Growing and Evolving Family; Chapter 3 The Sibling Relationship; Chapter 4 Age Difference, Family Size and Language Orders; Chapter 5 Gender and Language; Chapter 6 Birth Order: A Child's Position in the Family; Chapter 7 Individual Differences: Same Languages, Different Language Histories; Chapter 8 Bilingualism and Twins, Adoption, Single Parents and Step-Families; Chapter 9 Five Themes on Family Language Patterns; Family Profiles; Appendix 1 Summary of Strategies Abstract: Taking a different perspective to traditional case studies on one bilingual child, this book discusses the whole family and the realities of life with two or more children and languages. This book unveils the reality behind life with bilingual siblings. Read more...