First language acquisition in a second language submersion environment

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the present paper a linguistic description is given of the process of first language acquisition of Turkish children aged 4 to 8 in a Dutch submersion environment in the Netherlands. On the basis of the assumption that language development involves the acquisition of distinct subskills in differential patternings, the development of lexical, morphosyntactic, and pragmatic abilities have been investigated separately. Furthermore, these longitudinal data are compared with cross-sectional language data of five- and seven-year-old children in Turkey. This comparison was made in order to be able to interpret whether the Turkish language skills of native Turkish-speaking children in the Netherlands were showing delay, stagnation, or attrition of skills. The overall results suggest that in the age range of 4 to 8 years the acquisition of first language skills by Turkish children in the Netherlands can best be characterized as stagnated.