Why do so many children who hear two languages speak just a single language?

Twenty years ago De Houwer (1999) asked why young children reared with two languages speak just a single language. At the time, there was little research that could address the question. This contribution reviews research from the last two decades that either directly or indirectly addresses the problem of single language use by bilingually raised children. Amongst others, it focuses on the role of parental input patterns, the quantity and quality of language input, parental discourse strategies, the role of institutions such as day care centers and preschools, and child agency

L’alternance codique intra-phrastique dans le discours de jeunes bilingues

Cette étude a trait aux aspects structurels des premiers énoncés mélangés produits par de jeunes enfants bilingues de 2 à 5 ans. Les données provenant d’un échantillon de 11 enfants acquérant 5 combinaisons de langues ont été soumises à une même base d’analyse. L’étude se propose de dégager des règles générales relatives à l’alternance codique intra-phrastique au cours du processus d’acquisition bilingue. On a pu constater des similitudes entre les enfants quelles que soient les combinaisons de langues dont la discussion cherche à rendre compte.The analysis presented here focuses on structural aspects of early mixed utterances as produced by young bilingual children between the ages of 2 and 5. Using a single method, data are analysed from 11 children acquiring S pairs of languages. The purpose of the analysis is to investigate whether any general statements can be made about the earliest development of intra-sentential language alternation. It is found that indeed there are quite a few similarities to be noted that hold across children and language pairs. In the discussion it is explored how these similarities can best be explained