Once a French speaker, always a French speaker? Bilingual children’s thinking about the stability of language

Jocelyn B. Dautel, Katherine D. Kinzler

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

124 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Despite early emerging and impressive linguistic abilities, young children demonstrate ostensibly puzzling beliefs about the nature of language. In some circumstances monolingual children even express the belief that an individual’s language is more stable than her race (Kinzler & Dautel, 2012). The present research investigated bilingual children’s thinking about the relative stability of language and race. Five-six-year-old bilingual children were asked to judge whether a target child who varied in race (White or Black) and language (English or French) would grow up to be an adult who maintained the target child’s race or her language. Similar to many monolingual children, a heterogeneous group of bilingual children on average chose the language-match. Yet, French-English bilingual children were relatively more likely to choose the race-match, especially when tested in their non-dominant language. Specific experience with relevant languages, and communicating in a non-dominant language, may contribute to children’s developing metalinguistic success and their thinking about social categorization.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)287-302
JournalCognitive Science
Volume42
Issue numberS1
Early online date27 Dec 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2018

Fingerprint

Linguistics
Language
Thinking
Aptitude
Research

Keywords

  • bilingualism, essentialism, language, race, social cognition

Cite this

Dautel, Jocelyn B. ; Kinzler, Katherine D. / Once a French speaker, always a French speaker? Bilingual children’s thinking about the stability of language. In: Cognitive Science. 2018 ; Vol. 42, No. S1. pp. 287-302.
@article{79f11e82401d4bb69e73a3a618348d58,
title = "Once a French speaker, always a French speaker? Bilingual children’s thinking about the stability of language",
abstract = "Despite early emerging and impressive linguistic abilities, young children demonstrate ostensibly puzzling beliefs about the nature of language. In some circumstances monolingual children even express the belief that an individual’s language is more stable than her race (Kinzler & Dautel, 2012). The present research investigated bilingual children’s thinking about the relative stability of language and race. Five-six-year-old bilingual children were asked to judge whether a target child who varied in race (White or Black) and language (English or French) would grow up to be an adult who maintained the target child’s race or her language. Similar to many monolingual children, a heterogeneous group of bilingual children on average chose the language-match. Yet, French-English bilingual children were relatively more likely to choose the race-match, especially when tested in their non-dominant language. Specific experience with relevant languages, and communicating in a non-dominant language, may contribute to children’s developing metalinguistic success and their thinking about social categorization.",
keywords = "bilingualism, essentialism, language, race, social cognition",
author = "Dautel, {Jocelyn B.} and Kinzler, {Katherine D.}",
year = "2018",
month = "5",
doi = "10.1111/cogs.12572",
language = "English",
volume = "42",
pages = "287--302",
journal = "Cognitive Science",
issn = "0364-0213",
publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",
number = "S1",

}

Dautel, JB & Kinzler, KD 2018, 'Once a French speaker, always a French speaker? Bilingual children’s thinking about the stability of language', Cognitive Science, vol. 42, no. S1, pp. 287-302. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12572

Once a French speaker, always a French speaker? Bilingual children’s thinking about the stability of language. / Dautel, Jocelyn B.; Kinzler, Katherine D.

In: Cognitive Science, Vol. 42, No. S1, 05.2018, p. 287-302.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

TY - JOUR

T1 - Once a French speaker, always a French speaker? Bilingual children’s thinking about the stability of language

AU - Dautel, Jocelyn B.

AU - Kinzler, Katherine D.

PY - 2018/5

Y1 - 2018/5

N2 - Despite early emerging and impressive linguistic abilities, young children demonstrate ostensibly puzzling beliefs about the nature of language. In some circumstances monolingual children even express the belief that an individual’s language is more stable than her race (Kinzler & Dautel, 2012). The present research investigated bilingual children’s thinking about the relative stability of language and race. Five-six-year-old bilingual children were asked to judge whether a target child who varied in race (White or Black) and language (English or French) would grow up to be an adult who maintained the target child’s race or her language. Similar to many monolingual children, a heterogeneous group of bilingual children on average chose the language-match. Yet, French-English bilingual children were relatively more likely to choose the race-match, especially when tested in their non-dominant language. Specific experience with relevant languages, and communicating in a non-dominant language, may contribute to children’s developing metalinguistic success and their thinking about social categorization.

AB - Despite early emerging and impressive linguistic abilities, young children demonstrate ostensibly puzzling beliefs about the nature of language. In some circumstances monolingual children even express the belief that an individual’s language is more stable than her race (Kinzler & Dautel, 2012). The present research investigated bilingual children’s thinking about the relative stability of language and race. Five-six-year-old bilingual children were asked to judge whether a target child who varied in race (White or Black) and language (English or French) would grow up to be an adult who maintained the target child’s race or her language. Similar to many monolingual children, a heterogeneous group of bilingual children on average chose the language-match. Yet, French-English bilingual children were relatively more likely to choose the race-match, especially when tested in their non-dominant language. Specific experience with relevant languages, and communicating in a non-dominant language, may contribute to children’s developing metalinguistic success and their thinking about social categorization.

KW - bilingualism, essentialism, language, race, social cognition

U2 - 10.1111/cogs.12572

DO - 10.1111/cogs.12572

M3 - Article

VL - 42

SP - 287

EP - 302

JO - Cognitive Science

JF - Cognitive Science

SN - 0364-0213

IS - S1

ER -

Dautel JB, Kinzler KD. Once a French speaker, always a French speaker? Bilingual children’s thinking about the stability of language. Cognitive Science. 2018 May;42(S1):287-302. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12572

Access to Document