Phonological development in young bilinguals: clinical implications

Abstract

This article reviews recent research on bilingual phonological development and describes the nature of bilingual phonology, focusing on characteristics of cross-linguistic influence on bilingual phonological abilities. There is evidence of positive and negative transfer (acceleration and deceleration) on children's phonological abilities. Several methodological issues limit the ability to generalize findings from previous research to larger groups of bilingual children (e.g., small sample size, lack of consideration of age of acquisition of each language, and language abilities of the participants). Sources of heterogeneity in language development are presented and discussed. Phonological abilities are related to language abilities in bilingual first language learners of English and Spanish. Empirical evidence from research in our laboratory supports this claim. We discuss implications of research findings and limitations for future research and clinical practice. We provide specific recommendations for bilingual research and for clinical assessment of young bilingual children.