fonological development in bilingual children?

Question

I am a speech pathology student in portugal who is in desperate need for information regarding the fonological development in bilingual children... please help... thanks

Answer 1

Phonological development is similar in most languages until about three to five years of age. Cooing (vowel development) begins at two months. Bilabials begin at six months. Stops begin at about seven to eight months. Fricatives begin at between two to three years. Glides can develop between three to six years, as do intradentals. Sibilants are finished by age seven or eight, at the latest. Sounds which are more complex and language-specific usually develop between age four to seven years.
You may want to read up on the norms for speech development and phonetics, as well as phonological processes development.

Answer 2

My studies in Linguistics and my personal experience have taught me that it depends on each child. However, as a rule of thumb watching my own children and their environment, (Spanish=English) Children will pick the language that is the easiest first. In my case, my own children learn to speak English first because "ball" had one syllable vs. "pelota" which has 3 syllables. As they get older they will be picking up more language in Spanish as their development grows (the control of their tongue/better listening). English tends to be easier for children because it is compose of easy one syllable words: ball, doll, etc. Whereas in Spanish the words are longer and they require more energy to produce due to long syllables: muneca, pelota, galleta, etc.
Does this helps you?
I imagine you are concern with Portuguese and Spanish.

Answer 3

Interesting question....I guess you are looking for studies rather than have a particular question you are asking parents of bilingual children.