Abstract
An ecosystemic framework was used to explore how external factors, including the macrosystem, exosystem and microsystem, and internal factors impact bilingual phonological development in the case of three simultaneous bilingual preschool-aged children who spoke French and either Arabic, English, or Tagalog. Regarding internal factors, the three children showed age-appropriate phonology and vocabulary. For external factors, all children lived in a sociolinguistic context where French was the majority language. English brought several sociolinguistic advantages and opportunities for exposure and use in the communities, compared to Arabic and Tagalog, which had minoritized language status. We consider that an ecosystemic framework accounts for a continuum of bilingual phonology acquisition that includes both child internal and external factors.
Publisher
John Benjamins Publishing Company