Transfer in Bilingual Development: The Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis Revisited

Abstract

This study aimed to find empirical evidence for the linguistic interdependence hypothesis, which states that in bilingual development, language and literacy skills can be transferred from one language to another. Ninety‐eight 6‐year‐old Turkish children, living in the Netherlands since infancy, were selected prior to their entrance into the first grade of primary school. A longitudinal design monitored the development of lexical, morphosyntactic, pragmatic, phonological, and literacy abilities in the children's first and second languages. To minimize test‐bias, I developed linguistic tasks, which required minimal instruction, analyzing interdependence relationships in bilingual development with LISREL techniques. The results clearly show that at the level of lexicon and syntax, language transfer was quite limited. At the level of pragmatic skills, phonological skills, and literacy skills, however, positive evidence appeared for the interdependence in bilingual development.