Early Bilingual Acquisition : A Case Study in Iran

This study takes a look at the acquisition of early bilingualism of Persian and English languages by a five year old boy named Daniel in Iran. It aims to find out the progress he has made while acquiring these languages simultaneously, degree of his success or failure in communication in each language, his code switching and mother tongue dominancy during the five year period since his birth. The result of this study shows that early bilingualism has not caused delay either in Daniel’s speech or his language acquisition process. Also it reveals that few code switchings Daniel has made are quite part of his normal language learning process and not indicative of his insufficient knowledge or his difficulty in using and communicating in either language. Moreover, it demonstrates that Daniel’s mother tongue has mostly been dominant during the period although Daniel’s mother has been communicating with him only in English which is not her first language. For this study, a descriptive method has been used based on his parents’ observations, audio and video recordings and taking notes of his bilingual communication developments since his birth.


Introduction and Background
It is often believed that bilingualism is the ability to speak two languages with the same fluency the native speakers of two languages speak.Bloomfieldians viewed bilinguals as those who have "native-like control of two languages" (Adebileje, 2013, p. 7).Although bilingual children may go through the same language acquisition stages as the monolingual children do, it is not necessarily the case that they should have a native-like control of two languages.Moderate bilingual researchers have not emphasized on a native-like control over the languages bilinguals are acquiring.Ogunkeye (2007), for example, viewed bilinguals as "individuals who can use at least two languages comfortably, with varying degrees of competence" (cited in Adebileje, 2013, p. 3).Similarly, others like Haugen (1953) defined bilinguals as "individuals who are fluent in one language but who can produce complete meaningful utterances in the other languages" (cited in Butler, & Hakuta, 2004, p. 114).Many other researchers (e.g., Hakuta, 1986;Macnamara, 1967;Mohanty & Perregaux, 1997) believed bilinguals show various degrees of proficiency in two languages.Genesee (2003), Patterson and Pearson (2004) believed bilingual children can produce their first words at nearly the same age as monolingual children can.
In their studies of bilingualism, Gawlitzek, Maiwald and Tracy (1996) referred to bilingual children's language mixing which is called code-switching.Bilingual children tend to code switch from one language to another.However, this is a misconception that children learning two languages simultaneously are confused or unable to differentiate between the two languages well.scholars like Streets (1976) and Brook (2002).Streets (1976) conducted a research on rural bilingual children in Wales.He found that bilingual children were scored relatively lower than monolingual children on IQ tests (Cook, 2002).However, many other researchers like Lambert and Tucker (1972), Ben-Zeev (1977), Rubinand Turner (1989), Bruck and Genesee (1993), Bialystok and Herman (1999), Oller and Pearson (2002) and Dreifus (2011) who claimed a cognitive advantage for bilingual children, have a positive view to bilingualism and early bilingualism.Bilingual development may just be slightly slower than monolingual development, but it does not mean that bilingual children may learn the languages slower, with difficulty or deficiency compared to the monolingual children.Speaking two languages needs ample input and practice.Without practice, the bilinguals may find it difficult to understand or talk to the speakers of either language.
"The bilingual process can begin in the early life of a human and requires a healthy start, sufficient opportunities, and exposure to a care giving environment that allows the child's innate predisposition to learn to communicate to functions" (Rossetti, 2001, cited in Qismullah, 2009, p. 305).Ebert and Hawk (2003) stated that "the linguistic development of children depends upon the linguistic experiences of childhood and the language structures that children encounter" (Cited in Qismullah, 2009, p. 314).Also, as Balkan (1970) suggested, early bilingualism is superior to both monolingualism and later bilingualism.Bialystok and Martin-Rhee (2004) discovered that "children exposed to two languages were quicker at performing a colour and shape sorting task than children who were monolingual" (cited in Adebileje, 2013, p. 7).Also, Bhattacharjee (2012) stated that "bilinguals are more skillful and smarter than monolinguals at solving certain kinds of mental puzzles" (cited in Adebileje, 2013, p. 3).
As it has always been a very interesting idea for many researchers including the researchers in this paper to see if it is possible to raise a bilingual child who is able to communicate in two languages similar to the way native monolingual speakers of each language do, the researchers in this study have tried to provide their child with enough input in English and Persian since his birth to find out about the ease or difficulty with which he would be able to communicate in both languages.It has also been very important for them to see if the child's mother tongue would be the dominant language or not as the child's mother chose to speak with him only in English which was her second language.It made clear that Daniel's language ability has been very approximate to monolinguals in each language.This was rather in contradiction to what was earlier mentioned by extremists like Bloomfieldians or some moderate researchers like Hakuta (1986), Macnamara (1967), Mohanty and Perregaux (1997) and some others.Also, Daniel has shown a very good understanding of the words, sound distinction and pronunciation, etc. in both languages which contradicts Tzouriadou's view.Tzouriadou (1992) believed that "bilingual children show weakness in the comprehension of basic vocabulary or simple utterances and insufficiencies in various aspects of the hearing process, such as discrimination of sounds, combination of phonemes and symbols" (cited in Adebileje, 2013, p. 467).

Methodology
The acquisition of English and Persian by Daniel did not take place by intentionally instructing him with either language.He was normally exposed to both languages without receiving any direct instructions.The language learning was a normal and easy going process which took place just similar to any first language acquisitions.Daniel went through all the linguistic stages like any other child learning his mother tongue.He has learnt to communicate through natural interactions with his parents although he's been exposed much more to Persian in the environment than English.However, Danny's parents expected that he could attain both languages at a satisfactory level.Despite the worries his parents had, he is now able to take part in conversations in either languages well with only very few imperfections which doesn't hinder his communication.
Only once did his Persian language start to dominate his English language at the age of three when he was spending his first five months in the nursery being exposed to Persian language by other children and people there for six hours a day.And that was the time he had passed the telegraphic stage, and he was to use sentences in Persian more often, then.This made his parents very concerned and apprehended about his slow progress in English language during this short period, and his father started to speak English to him as well on some occasions to fill the gap.But for all the other periods before or after this stage, his English has been rather dominant to Persian up to the present time to the point that he has more code witched to English while speaking Persian than the other way round at the times he has not found the proper word while communicating.That shows the dominant role of his mother tongue, here the English language, which surprisingly was not his mother's first language.Of course, it doesn't mean that Daniel has not been able to communicate in Persian as well as he has done in English.
Although it was psychologically very difficult for Daniel's mother to speak English with him before other people in a foreign language setting, she has been consistent in not peaking a word of Persian to him during these five years as she feared that the child might prefer to adhere to Persian language which was heard and spoken all around him much more than English, especially outside home.Even though she was eager to experience this to see if the child would stop speaking English, she never risked to do so.
Daniel was not only exposed to English by his mother at home and everywhere else they were together but also mostly to English cartoons and programmes by the time he has been spending at home for the first four years which made him quite interested in watching English rather than Persian ones afterwards.Undoubtedly, watching English programs had a crucial role in his English language development as the mother was not free to speak to him 24 hours a day.
Daniel was exposed to Persian language by his father everywhere, by his relatives, by people in the nursery or outside home and by Persian parental communications in or outside home.He has also been watching cartoons and programmes in Persian while spending outside or inside home from time to time during the same period.However, during the last year, Daniel has been equally exposed to programmes in both languages.

Participants
Daniel is a five year old boy living in Iran.His parents are teachers of English as a foreign language in Iran.His mother has a Bachelor of Art in teaching English as a foreign language and a Master of Art in linguistics.She is graduated from Iranian universities, and she is teaching English language in Iran.His father has a Bachelor and Master of Art in teaching English as a foreign language.He is also graduated from Iranian universities, and he teaches English.The first language of Daniel's parents is Persian, and they communicate with each other and with all people in Iran in Persian.Iran is a country where English is not spoken outside the English classes and those who plan to learn English in this country don't have a good chance of practicing it outside the classroom.In such a setting, Daniel's parents decided to raise a bilingual child capable of speaking and communicating in Persian and English.

Instruments
This study is done mostly based on the frequent parental observations of Daniel's progress while acquiring two languages at the same time in five years.Meanwhile, his parents did some recordings of his speech at different stages of his bilingual acquisition processes.They have also transcribed many words, phrases and sentences he has produced in either language.

Procedure
Daniel's parents tried to provide him with the normal conditions necessary for the bilingual development despite raising him in a country where English is only a foreign language and seems odd for others to hear it spoken in the environment.Daniel's mother chose to speak only English to him since his birth.And his father has been communicating with him in Persian and rarely in English all throughout this period.
Most important words, phrases and sentences Daniel's parents thought to be helpful data for later report were taken notes of.In some occasions, especially while Daniel has been playing with his toys and was busy talking to himself and his toys, his voice has been recorded without his knowledge.Rarely was he videotaped as he has been aware of video recording most of the time, and this awareness would affect his normal speech production.
Based on the data gathered through the observations, recordings and note takings during five years, Daniel's parents decided to prepare a descriptive report of what and how he has tried to communicate in both languages.

Result and Discussion
Daniel went through both languages quite satisfactorily and normally.During the first two years, his knowledge and use of English words dominated that of Persian, to the point that he could say and read all the English alphabet letters he learnt indirectly by watching English programmes, and he could count numbers, which he had learnt quite peripherally without any parental interventions, from one to twenty in English, too.It was only a year later that he learnt to count numbers in Persian when he was taught so in the nursery.However, he has not, as of today, practiced or learnt any Persian alphabets.
It was sometimes disappointing for his parents to observe that his vocabulary repertoire was not as developed as that of monolingual children his age, but they also knew the reason was that part of his brain was busy with another language and that was not any sign of difficulty, hindrance or inability in his language acquisition process.The small fluctuation in either language dominance continued by the time he was nearly four.But from then on, he has been able to communicate well in both languages without major difficulties although he prefers English more to Persian now as his mother has spoken only English to him thus far.Now, his vocabulary knowledge in every single language even exceeds that of monolingual children his age who speak either language.This supports the idea that bilingualism does not hinder or slow down the acquisition process.Some developments of words, phrases and sentences in his language acquisition development have been shown in tables below.).Gestures and pointing to objects were also used when he did not know the words for the new objects.
Not remarkable problems; he was able to call the name of many things.However, again his vocabulary intake was less than that of English.Gestures, code switching and pointing to objects were also used when he did not know the words in Persian.

Use of conjunctions
Few conjunctions like 'and' were visible at the end of this period.(e.g., 'dad and mom', 'two and five', etc.) Conjunction was an easy process up to end of this period.He simply added 'o' for [vɑ] meaning 'and' to words.(e.g., [sɑgo gobɛ] for [sɑg vɑ gorbɛ] meaning 'dog and cat', etc.)

Use of inflections None None
Pronunciation problems He still could not pronounce all the words correctly, but his pronunciation had improved.
He still could not pronounce all the words correctly, especially he could not pronounce [q] and [x] sounds in Persian.However, his pronunciation had improved.
Other problems He sometimes forgot the name of objects which were not used more often.
He sometimes forgot the name of objects which were not used more often.None (He is able to make sentences with the words given, and he can translate them to English).
As seen in the tables above, during the first year of Daniel's bilingual acquisition, his English was dominant to his Persian language as he was spending more time with his mother than his father at home and elsewhere.Thus, he used to code switch to English while he could not find a proper word in Persian.Code switching to Persian rarely happened when he could not find a proper word in English during this period, though.
From the beginning of language acquisition, Daniel seemed to know which language he'd been communicating in, so he had tried to use the words he knew in the language he was addressed, and it was very clear that he was building a distinct lexicon.This supported the "separate system hypothesis" mentioned by Fromkin, Rodman and Hyams (2007, p. 344).His pronunciation was not very clear and correct, but he was able to communicate in either language with the words he had learnt in each language.
In the second year, his knowledge of vocabulary and pronunciation grew bigger and he was able to use small phrases to express a whole sentence meaning.So, he did not have any significant problems while communicating in either language, and his acquisition process looked quite normal.His code switching in each language did not impede his knowledge of grammatical structure and word order.And it proved that he was developing separate grammar, too.Also, he was able to pronounce /Ɵ/ and /Ơ/ sounds in English quite well.His ability to pronounce these sounds, which do not exist in Persian language and are very difficult to pronounce by English language learners in Iran, showed that he was developing two separate sound systems, as well.In the third year, he was more exposed to Persian for a short period when his Persian language got dominant, but he was still able to communicate in English while being addressed in this language.
Later at the age of four, his English developed greatly, and he was able to use a variety of English sentences and communicate well in this language.Although he had some minute grammatical problems like inflectional problems, for example, it was not a sign of difficulty in his acquisition process.At the same time, he could communicate quite satisfactorily in Persian language using many sentences with few grammatical or word choice problems.Now, at the age of five, Daniel seems not to have any significant problems while making sentences which are often used.But when he wants to use a new sentence or one which is used less, he faces some overgeneralization problems with the questioning, inflections, etc.
It seems his degree of overgeneralization has increased as he has acquired each language more.For instance, while communicating in English at four, he used the sentence 'I'm tired' correctly, but at five, when he learnt to use adverbs like, quickly, slowly, etc., he sometimes adds suffix -ly to many adjectives and makes 'tiredly', 'fastly', 'cleverly', etc.Similar problems have been observed in Persian, too.The overgeneralisation is still in existence in his both languages.However, it's not a sign of hindrance in acquisition process either in English or Persian.He has been able to use each language quite satisfactorily, keeping each language separate while communicating.However, some aspects of his speech like an increase in his overgeneralisation or existence of it in five year period and the type of interrogative sentences he uses in English, for example, and the possible consequences of his communication with his mother in Persian require more investigations in the future.

Conclusion
Daniel has been able to use both languages quite satisfactorily as he has been able to express himself well in each language.A bit of language delay in the first years was not a matter of concern about his language development and it proves De Houwer, Petitto and Holowka's belief that there are no significant delays or disorders in language acquisition of bilinguals.
Although Daniel still code switches and his overgeneralization has increased since the start of his language acquisition, his communication abilities have been drastically enhanced during the five year period.Daniel has been capable of interacting in either language quite normally and similar to that of monolingual children his age.His step by step language development has been part of language learning process and there were not any signs of inability or difficulty in his language acquisition.He is now a bilingual child who has developed language skills very approximate to that of other monolingual children his age and he can use and communicate in each language as appropriate as every monolingual child can do in one language.Also, compared to monolingual children his age, Daniel seems to have developed better analytical and problem-solving skills, creativity and concentration.

Table 1 .
Persian and English language development in Daniel's first year of age Up to the end of the first year, sounds changed into one words, mostly without a clear or correct pronunciation.(e.g., '[tɑd]' for 'dad', '[bun]' for 'moon', '[hɛm]' for 'helmet', etc.) Up to the end of the first year, sounds changed into one words, mostly without a clear or correct pronunciation.(e.g., '[bɛ]' for '[bɛrɑ m]' meaning 'go', '[bi]' for '[bija]' meaning 'come', '[hɑv]' for '[hɑ vapeijma]' meaning 'plane', etc.)More frequent sentences None None Dominancy Dominant Not used as much as English Degree of code switching (language mixing) Very few; of course, he knew if he was addressed in English or Persian.He mostly used the words he knew in English.Few; he knew if he was addressed in Persian or English.He used the words he knew in Persian, but sometimes he code switched to English.(e.g., He sometimes used '[dɑ]' for 'dad' instead of using the Persian word 'pɛdɑr', etc.) Overextension Few.(e.g., 'dad' referred to all males, 'water' referred to any liquid, etc).Few.(e.g., '[am]' for '[ɑmu]' meaning 'uncle' was used to refer to every male, '[dƷi:z]' meaning 'dangerous' was used to refer to every animal, hot things, darkness or any other kinds of danger).

Table 2 .
Persian and English language development in Daniel's second year of age

Table 3 .
Persian and English language development in Danny's third year of age Negative sentence problems He added 'no' to phrases, sometimes with a rising intonation.(e.g., 'no little pink panther' meaning 'I don't want the little pink panther doll.',etc.) '[Na]' meaning 'not' was proceeded by phrases, sometimes with a rising intonation.(e.g., '[ɑksajɛ mɑn nɑ]' meaning 'Don't touch my pictures.',etc.)

Table 4 .
Persian and English language development in Danny's fourth year of age

Table 5 .
Persian and English language development in Danny's fifth year of age