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The dilemma of simultaneous or successive bilingualism
Marina Furlan
Full text (pdf) | Views: 16 | Written in Slovene. | Published: December 23, 2002
Abstract: The study starts from the definition of bilingualism, according to which a person is considered to be bilingual, if she had started to learn (in natural situations) two languages from her birth or from early childhood on. The aim of this research work was to assess the existence of any personality differences among "simultaneous" (children exposed to both languages from birth on or at least before the first birthday) and "successive" (children exposed to the first language from birth on and to the second language from the toddler period through early childhood) bilingual adolescents. The participants were adolescents from secondary schools from the Slovenian coast and from Trieste. Results show that simultaneousness/successiveness of acquisition of the two languages in question doesn't have any impact on personality traits of tested adolescents.
Keywords: language, bilingualism, personality traits, adolescents, Slovenia, Italy
