TY - JOUR
T1 - Cognitive adaptations induced by a multi-language input in early development
AU - Kovács, Ágnes Melinda
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd.
PY - 2015/12/1
Y1 - 2015/12/1
N2 - Children around the world successfully adapt to the specific requirements of their physical and social environment, and they readily acquire any language they are exposed to. Still, learning simultaneously two languages has been a continuous concern of parents, educators and scientists. While the focus has shifted from the possible costs to the possible advantages of bilingualism, the worries still linger that early bilingualism may cause delays and confusion. Here we adopt a less dichotomist view, by asking what specific adaptations might result from simultaneously learning two languages. We will discuss findings that point to a surprising plasticity of the cognitive system allowing young infants to cope with the bilingual input and reaching linguistic milestones at the same time as monolinguals.
AB - Children around the world successfully adapt to the specific requirements of their physical and social environment, and they readily acquire any language they are exposed to. Still, learning simultaneously two languages has been a continuous concern of parents, educators and scientists. While the focus has shifted from the possible costs to the possible advantages of bilingualism, the worries still linger that early bilingualism may cause delays and confusion. Here we adopt a less dichotomist view, by asking what specific adaptations might result from simultaneously learning two languages. We will discuss findings that point to a surprising plasticity of the cognitive system allowing young infants to cope with the bilingual input and reaching linguistic milestones at the same time as monolinguals.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84937877251&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.conb.2015.07.003
DO - 10.1016/j.conb.2015.07.003
M3 - Review Article
C2 - 26210373
AN - SCOPUS:84937877251
SN - 0959-4388
VL - 35
SP - 80
EP - 86
JO - Current Opinion in Neurobiology
JF - Current Opinion in Neurobiology
ER -