International Journal of Bilingual
Education and Bilingualism
Editor: Colin Baker, University of Wales, Bangor
Review Editor: Aneta Pavlenko, Temple University, Philadelpia
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Volume: 2 Number: 1 Page: 30–52
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Lexical Growth Patterns in a Bilingual Infant: The Occurrence and Significance of Equivalents in the Bilingual Lexicon
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Ursula Lanvers
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This article gives a detailed account of the lexical growth in a bilingual child (German and English) and discusses its theoretical implications. Evaluating the 'Principle of Contrast' (Clark, 1987, 1988)
in bilingual acquisition, it is concluded that evidence of lexical equivalent learning and usage of equivalents can contribute to the debate on language separation in bilingual infants. The child in this
study generally showed acquisition patterns of language-specific words to be related to the (varying) amount of input, changes in the language environment having a delayed effect on the dominance shift
in the lexicon. New equivalents were learned very regularly from age 1.7 onwards, making up, on average, 30% of monthly new words. The time gap examination in the emergence of these equivalents showed patterns
relating to the input: changes of input greatly increased equivalent learning. The patterns of equivalent learning, together with evidence of appropriate usage of these from the age of 1.7 onwards, were
interpreted as evidence of emerging lexical separation around the age of 1.6. Furthermore, lexical acquisition in one language was not proportionate to the amount of exposure to that language, an observation
of interest for the general theoretical discussion of the relation between input and acquisition.
© Multilingual Matters 1998
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