Bilingualism in Infancy: Within Language and Beyond

Liquan Liu, University of Oslo, Norway & Western Sydney University, Australia

As an environment-induced factor, the role of bilingualism and its impact on infant and child development are widely discussed in the literature. Although there is no doubt bilingualism is a multi-faceted by nature, comparisons are typically discussed in a categorical fashion, some between monolingual and bilingual infants, others splitting bilinguals based on language dominance.

Moreover, research focuses have been largely given to key factors such as cross-linguistic similarities/differences, input quantity/quality, and family socioeconomic status, etc. Studies on other potential internal and external factors modulating bilingual development influence should by no means be neglected.

This class intends to broaden our view on infant bilingual development through recent findings, and discuss traditional and new variables, along with their dynamic interactions, within and beyond language.