Introduction

Bilingualism, the Critical Period, and Multiple Language Acquisition

Linguist Eric Lenneberg proposed the theory that there is a critical period in language acquisition. Although there is no real empirical data to prove that children before age twelve are more capable of second language acquisition, this is nonetheless a widely accepted concept. However, what about multiple language acquisition? Does the same critical period apply? Are bilingual speakers more capable of learning a third, fourth, etc., language? In the event that they do, what happens to their first and second language?

To this day, when either of my parents do math, be it at the grocery store or at home, they count in Russian. When they are emotional about something, they express themselves best in Russian. When it comes to leisurely reading, the literature of choice is, of course, Russian. While my parents are fluent in English, they are stronger in Russian.

My sister, Alexandra “Sasha” Deyneka, is a different story. Sasha has a tendency to dream in Italian, count in Russian, and prefers to read in English. She is fluent in both English, Russian, and, as of recently, Italian. Sasha spent the last year in Florence , Italy , where she was studying restoration on an art scholarship. The combination of her bilingual advantage and her immersion in the Italian language had an interesting result. Sasha became fluent in Italian; however, her English also underwent some changes. Although she is still fluent in English, she no longer sounds like a “native speaker.”

Transcription

Natalia interviews Sasha N: Did you find yourself speaking mostly to Italians S: Well, there were several Americans S: But in the house we spoke Italian and that was interesting because there was only one native Italian speaker, and then um, the other two were Easter Europeans, one of them spoke Russian, and eventually another American who also spoke Spanish and then we always spoke in Italian, in fact, we speak in Italian even now when we call each other…Jonathon N: So instead of speaking English to the American, you spoke Italian S: But often times, of course, of course to Dima I spoke Russian, but in the presence of Simona, I would speak in Italian. It was much more awkward to speak Italian to a Russian than it was to an American. N: Uh huh S: Uh Huh! Indeed! (laughs) And ummm, as far as speaking English goes, I didn't speak English much for a year, and it was really difficult when I came back, but um, I thought I had a greater advantage than um, other Americans, because Americans would just basically cluster together, and um, hang out with each other whereas… N: So when you were speaking Italian, were there different dialects? Was it, was speaking Italian in Florence different than Italian. S: Well yeah, well I was living with a Sicilian girl, so I picked up a lot of the Sicilian accent, so and um, in fact, I remember someone telling me that I had a little of a Sicilian-Russian accent (laughs) That was really interesting. Yeah, so I would pick up her intonation, I would pick up a lot of her expressions N: Um, would people generally identify you as a foreigner? I remember when we were together S: Often times by the way I looked, yes, N: But by the way you spoke? S: Maybe from the first couple minutes of conversation, no, but then…it also depended on… N: Who you were speaking to? S: Like who I was speaking too, (laughs) whom I was speaking to, or umm, the day, like, if I had been speaking…or on the day, whether I had been speaking the language that day…but yeah, I did find that my English got kind of awkward. In fact, I read through some of the emails that I would send back home here, after I actually came back, and I was like “hmm…those are not very well written!” So yeah…but as far as Florence goes, it was, it was pretty divided, because the locals were, were very kind of, stand-off-ish, you know, they're used to a lot of tourists, a lot of foreigners. You know, there's probably more than a couple thousand different American programs there. They're used to a huge American presence there. Then they're used to a huge foreign presence period, if it's legal or illegal. And so they try to kind of pull themselves apart from the foreigners, and its hard to get into, kind of… N: Is that atmosphere difference that what you experienced in Venice or Rome or elsewhere? S: In Rome people, well you know generally, the trend is, and this is a stereotype but to an extent it's true, the more south you, the more further south you go, the friendlier the people are, so in Rome they're a little bit friendlier, if you go further south like in Naples or something, there, they'll steal your purse but they're friendly! (laughs) So yeah, that's a trend, you know, the northerners are a little bit more closed off. And also, you know the Florentines, there's a big kind of strand of old aristocracy there, so, you know things like that…and um, and also, even, I did make a couple of friends who were from Florence…but it was really hard to be a foreigner and to become a part of a group of friends who've been friends since they were five, since they were kids. So, that was a little bit difficult, and also the general stigma attached to certain immigrants, you know, especially Eastern European immigrants. N: Um, I had something to ask you but now it just flew out of my head. How about it in the studio, how was it then, communicating with other people? S: In the university? It was good. Well I mean all the classes were in Italian, um, and then, everybody spoke Italian with varying degrees. There were a sev- a couple of people who didn't speak well at all. There were a couple of people pretty well, who had just worked there. So you know, they would speak fluently, but they would, um, not write as well, maybe? So you know maybe their grammar was more shaky. So you know there were people of varying, varying ability as far as language goes. In the classroom too, we tried to mostly keep it to Italian, which was, often times I would break into English, but, you know. N: Do you remember, before, prior to leaving for Italy , people mentioning that you had a slight accent, or commenting on your English at all? S: Well, I think, I didn't have an accent in high school, or had less of an accent in high school. Then, when I lived, when I studied in Finland , because I spoke English only to foreigners, and we did speak English, and I spoke English to a lot of Italians too. And I found my sentence structure adjusting to their sentence structure, so as to make it more clear for them. N: Right, that would make sense. So I was speaking broken English already, probably. So I think that influenced it, and I came back having a weird English, almost, kind of deprived of a heavy American accent. Not, you know, British by any means, but you know, that would be the accent spoken there, but um… N: There? S: In Finland , they would speak with a broken accent. A kind of neutral English. A crisper English maybe. N: Do you find yourself… S: And you know, after Italy , English would feel heavier in my mouth, that's the only way I can put it really. N: (jokingly) Would that have sounded better in Italian? S: (laughs) Because Italian is, is closer to Russian in a sense that it's spoken more, more in the front of the mouth I would say, whereas English is a little bit like, like chewing gum (laughs), it's a little bit further back, I think, especially with the “r” sounds and you know, so you have to make an explicit effort to, you know, to move the language back. N: So Italian would have been more naturally for you? S: More naturally physiologically, as much as you can make that stretch, (laughs)

Analysis

There are many factors at play in Sasha's third language acquisition. First and foremost, Sasha's background as a bilingual speaker was integral to her acquisition of Italian. In her book “Third Language Learners: Pragmatic Production and Awareness,” Maria Pilar Safont Jordà, tackles the issue of a bilingual advantage in language acquisition. She references several studies in the acquisition of English where bilingual speakers demonstrate a clear advantage, indicating that, “higher levels of bilingualism correlate with higher achievement in the ability of thinking about the language,” and a “higher degree of pragmatic awareness than monolingual learners.” (Jordà 153). For example, in a study conducted by David Lasagabaster in the Basque-Country, an area where both Castilian and Basque are spoken, the language of 252 students, aged from 10 to 14 years old, was studied. The results of the study indicated that

Subjects with a good command of the two languages of that community, Basque and Casitlian (i.e. balanced bilinguals), possessed a higher proficiency level in English. Therefore a beneficial effect of bilingualism on learning English as a third language was found. (45)

We can conclude that bilingualism was undeniably a leading factor in Sasha's acquisition of Italian. However, why did her English also undergo changes? Sasha's age when she acquired English as a second language may be a factor.

According to many linguists, there exists a critical period for language acquisition. Penfield, for example, proposes that between the ages nine and twelve, “for the purposes of learning languages, the human brain becomes progressively stiff and rigid.” (Harley 5). In The Language Instinct, Pinker says, of people who immigrate after puberty, “A few highly talented and motivated individuals master much of the grammar of a foreign language, but not its sound pattern. Henry Kissinger, who immigrated to the United States as a teenager, retains a frequently satirized German accent; his brother, a few years younger, has no accent.” (Pinker 296). While Sasha did become fluent in English upon her assimilation into American culture, perhaps her age when she learned English made her second language more vulnerable to later change.

Furthermore, it is not unlikely that many people experience some degree of language attrition in their previous languages upon acquiring a new one. Jordà addresses this issue, stating that “the more languages known by an individual, the more effort that is required for their maintenance.” Furthermore, “an additional language affects the overall linguistic system of the learner, while creating new links and relationships. The whole system is restructured and new skills and learning techniques arise from learners' previous language-learning experience.” (Jordà 13). Therefore, it is no surprise that these changes in one's linguistic system could manifest themselves; in Sasha's case, they manifested themselves in the form of a new accent and an overall “non-native” manner of speaking English.

Sources:

Pilar Safont Jordà, Maria. Third Language Learners: Pragmatic Production and Awareness. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters ltd, 2005.

Harley, Birgit. Age in Second Language Acquisition. San Diego : College Hill Press, 1986.

Pinker, Steven. The Language Instinct . New York : Perennial Classics, 2000.

“Critical Period.” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period

About the Author

I am originally from Kharkiv, Ukraine but have lived in America for about 13 years now.  My family lived in South Carolina up until 5 years ago, when we moved to North Carolina, specifically, Apex.  Despite moving to America when I was very little, I still speak and read Russian. 

I love to travel and am lucky to have had the opportunity to see a lot of the world.  I have an aunt and grandparents in Berlin, Germany that I am very close to.  I generally try and visit them every summer.  This summer, as a "graduation gift," my aunt and I went to Finland for a week.  I also visisted a friend in France who lives only 20 minutes from Geneva, thereby getting the chance to see a little of France and Switzerland.  I have also been to Spain and Italy.

I am fairly decent with information technology, especially for my purposes, which are usually limited to communication.  I enjoy a lot of different art and music and can appreaciate (although not necessarily like ) pretty much anything that has genuine emotion behind it. 

The aspects of this course that interest me the most are the neuropsychological foundations of language and I would love to learn more about the distinctions in mental processing for different people.