For the longest time -- maybe two years or more -- V has indicated something that happened in the past by saying "yesterday." It doesn't matter when the event in question actually occurred -- could be last week, last year, yesterday, or in the morning of the same day -- but the way to indicate that it was situated in the past was to say "Yesterday we went to Grandma's house" (or whatever).
Last week came the first ever instance of the use of the phrase "the other day." V said, "We got an ice cream the other day." Not yesterday; the OTHER day. Wow, well done, V! Let's see if she continues to use this construction.
Her use of the verb "to be" is also changing. In the first person singular (ie, "I"), she used to say pretty much exclusively "I are." Now, most of the time she says, "I'm are." So in other words, there are actually two copula, but I am pretty sure that she doesn't recognize "I'm" as a subject pronoun + copula, but only as a subject pronoun. This is what the books on language acquisition pretty much seem to say, too.
The other day one of V's daycare teachers asked me if I think her English or her Swedish is strongest. That's a tough question, because it depends very much on what she is doing and what she is talking about. From what I understand, this is really typical of bilingual children. It's hard to say which of their languages is "better," because they might use them for different things. The reason the daycare teacher asked, anyway, was because she said that sometimes V doesn't seem to understand what they are saying in Swedish, so they switch to English, and it seems to help. I don't necessarily think that means her English is stronger, though, because she actually uses quite a bit of Swedish words in her English these days, too.
One more thing: we spent the weekend in an almost entirely Finnish-speaking environment. V is able to follow the conversation, and she speaks Finnish, but it's not grammatically perfect. Her vocabulary and pronunciation seem pretty good, but it's the word endings that trip her up.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
In Id-a-wee
V and I were just visiting friends in Italy. Or, as she says it, "Id-a-wee." This was one of the first times she has been in a situation where she hears an unknown language all around her. She has had similar experiences in France and Germany, but that's been some time ago, now, and I doubt she remembers.
It was loads of fun to be there for lots of reasons, mostly because we were visiting our wonderful friends, but also because it was warm (!) and because the people there talk and talk and talk. Everywhere we went, total strangers were exclaiming over V's blonde hair and telling her "Que bella! Bellissima!" It's a totally different communication style from what we experience in Finland, and V did really well and went with the flow. It was only a couple of times that she turned to me and said, "What is that lady saying to me?" She was, for the most part, very open to their communication.
Over the course of a few days, she picked up a few words in Italian. Kids this age are just amazing.
But what interested me more than anything was her language choice with the people we were visiting. With our friend Valentina it was no problem -- V spoke English with her. With Marco, however, V kept speaking Swedish. Over and over again, she spoke Swedish, even though we kept telling her, "Marco doesn't understand Swedish. He speaks English."
I am really puzzled by this. V speaks Swedish with her dad, so I am wondering if there is something genderized about her language choice. In other words, man = speak Swedish. Somehow I am not very satisfied with that answer, however, because V knows at least a few men with whom she speaks English. I am wondering if it was because Marco played with her in a really wonderful physical and child-like manner.The reason for speaking Swedish to someone who engages in this type of intereaction is simple: V plays each day with her friends, speaking Swedish. So I am thinking it was more the activity than the person that prompted her use of Swedish. And I suppose it's kind of a compliment to Marco: Swedish = "you are my friend."
It was loads of fun to be there for lots of reasons, mostly because we were visiting our wonderful friends, but also because it was warm (!) and because the people there talk and talk and talk. Everywhere we went, total strangers were exclaiming over V's blonde hair and telling her "Que bella! Bellissima!" It's a totally different communication style from what we experience in Finland, and V did really well and went with the flow. It was only a couple of times that she turned to me and said, "What is that lady saying to me?" She was, for the most part, very open to their communication.
Over the course of a few days, she picked up a few words in Italian. Kids this age are just amazing.
But what interested me more than anything was her language choice with the people we were visiting. With our friend Valentina it was no problem -- V spoke English with her. With Marco, however, V kept speaking Swedish. Over and over again, she spoke Swedish, even though we kept telling her, "Marco doesn't understand Swedish. He speaks English."
I am really puzzled by this. V speaks Swedish with her dad, so I am wondering if there is something genderized about her language choice. In other words, man = speak Swedish. Somehow I am not very satisfied with that answer, however, because V knows at least a few men with whom she speaks English. I am wondering if it was because Marco played with her in a really wonderful physical and child-like manner.The reason for speaking Swedish to someone who engages in this type of intereaction is simple: V plays each day with her friends, speaking Swedish. So I am thinking it was more the activity than the person that prompted her use of Swedish. And I suppose it's kind of a compliment to Marco: Swedish = "you are my friend."
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Don't fall me!
Pretty much since she started acquiring language, V kept all her languages separate, which I think mostly has to do with the fact that each language is associated with the different people she knows. This is pretty cool in and of itself, because I think it demonstrates in a really cool way that language is, first and foremost, a communication and social tool; it's how we relate to others.
But now, as she is approaching 4 years old, it seems that language is becoming more of a cognitive rather than social process. I have to come clean here and admit that I don't know much of anything about cognitive linguistics, but I would venture that LANGUAGE (as a THING) is getting more solidified in her brain, and along with that, there's a lot more experimentation with the boundaries of each separate language. In other words (cut to the chase!), she is mixing a lot more than ever.
Swedish is now her strongest language, because it's what she speaks with her peers at the daycare, as well as at home with her big sister and her pappa. Her English is still absolutely native-like, but there are lots of words that she forgets. She often says something like, for example, "We have to be careful going doing the traps." Traps? Trappor is Swedish for stairs. So V uses a Swedish word as the base noun, but then she adds the English plural form, -s. She also sometimes refers to her leg as her ben, which is the Swedish word. There are lots of and lots of examples like this.
It's a mixed bag, though: I also heard her say a sentence in Swedish that went like this: Har du beena i Stockholm? I think this sentence would sound hilarious to anyone who knows Swedish. You can see that she used the English verb been, but she's added an -a in an attempt to make it sound more "Swedish." Clever girl!
Ocassionally, she mixes in the odd Finnish word, too, although Finnish is by no means a dominant language at this point. She can still communicate in Finnish, and the sounds are still definitely there (including the geminates, which are a very important part of Finnish phonology). What's missing, of course, are many of the word endings.
V's pronunciation is developing pretty much according to what the books tell us. The hardest sound for her in Swedish and Finnish seems to be the trilled "r" sound they have. It usually comes out sounding something like the American flap (or something like a "d" sound), unless it's at the beginning of a word, in which case it might even sound like an "l." When she speaks English, the "r" sound usually comes out sounding more like a "w." Other difficult sounds include the English interdentals: the first sounds in words like those and think. These come out as "d" and "t," respectively.
In terms of morphology and syntax, it's pretty much a textbook case. She uses regular verb forms even on irregular verbs, which is pretty typical. This means that, for example, she says, "It breaked" rather than "it broke" and "taked" rather then "took." The possessive pronouns are still coming. She doesn't really know those yet, so she uses the possessive -s to make a subject pronoun into possessive form. So, for example, she says, "The bear found she's bed," rather than "The bear found her bed." She doesn't seem to have dative pronouns yet, either -- or maybe they are just starting to come. She she says, for example, "Give it to I" rather than "Give it to me."
In general, there's lots and lots of creative stuff coming out in her language these days. She is definitely in the potty mouth stage, so there is lots of talk about poop and pee in every language. I'm looking forward for this stage to pass ... She sings a lot of songs and uses words from each language, sometimes within the same song. So what about the title of this blog post? I am not sure if it's a mixture of Swedish and English, or if it was just a funny thing to say in English. What I loved, though, was that I corrected her: "No, don't drop me," and then she corrected me. "No, mamma, not drop, don't fall me!"
But now, as she is approaching 4 years old, it seems that language is becoming more of a cognitive rather than social process. I have to come clean here and admit that I don't know much of anything about cognitive linguistics, but I would venture that LANGUAGE (as a THING) is getting more solidified in her brain, and along with that, there's a lot more experimentation with the boundaries of each separate language. In other words (cut to the chase!), she is mixing a lot more than ever.
Swedish is now her strongest language, because it's what she speaks with her peers at the daycare, as well as at home with her big sister and her pappa. Her English is still absolutely native-like, but there are lots of words that she forgets. She often says something like, for example, "We have to be careful going doing the traps." Traps? Trappor is Swedish for stairs. So V uses a Swedish word as the base noun, but then she adds the English plural form, -s. She also sometimes refers to her leg as her ben, which is the Swedish word. There are lots of and lots of examples like this.
It's a mixed bag, though: I also heard her say a sentence in Swedish that went like this: Har du beena i Stockholm? I think this sentence would sound hilarious to anyone who knows Swedish. You can see that she used the English verb been, but she's added an -a in an attempt to make it sound more "Swedish." Clever girl!
Ocassionally, she mixes in the odd Finnish word, too, although Finnish is by no means a dominant language at this point. She can still communicate in Finnish, and the sounds are still definitely there (including the geminates, which are a very important part of Finnish phonology). What's missing, of course, are many of the word endings.
V's pronunciation is developing pretty much according to what the books tell us. The hardest sound for her in Swedish and Finnish seems to be the trilled "r" sound they have. It usually comes out sounding something like the American flap (or something like a "d" sound), unless it's at the beginning of a word, in which case it might even sound like an "l." When she speaks English, the "r" sound usually comes out sounding more like a "w." Other difficult sounds include the English interdentals: the first sounds in words like those and think. These come out as "d" and "t," respectively.
In terms of morphology and syntax, it's pretty much a textbook case. She uses regular verb forms even on irregular verbs, which is pretty typical. This means that, for example, she says, "It breaked" rather than "it broke" and "taked" rather then "took." The possessive pronouns are still coming. She doesn't really know those yet, so she uses the possessive -s to make a subject pronoun into possessive form. So, for example, she says, "The bear found she's bed," rather than "The bear found her bed." She doesn't seem to have dative pronouns yet, either -- or maybe they are just starting to come. She she says, for example, "Give it to I" rather than "Give it to me."
In general, there's lots and lots of creative stuff coming out in her language these days. She is definitely in the potty mouth stage, so there is lots of talk about poop and pee in every language. I'm looking forward for this stage to pass ... She sings a lot of songs and uses words from each language, sometimes within the same song. So what about the title of this blog post? I am not sure if it's a mixture of Swedish and English, or if it was just a funny thing to say in English. What I loved, though, was that I corrected her: "No, don't drop me," and then she corrected me. "No, mamma, not drop, don't fall me!"
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