Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 01:16:28 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <199711170616.BAA10519@locke.ccil.org> Reply-To: Logical Language Group Sender: Lojban list From: Logical Language Group Subject: Re: Kids learning Lojban X-To: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan X-Mozilla-Status: 0011 Content-Length: 3089 X-From-Space-Date: Mon Nov 17 01:16:32 1997 X-From-Space-Address: LOJBAN@CUVMB.CC.COLUMBIA.EDU Reposting for karis.: >In a message dated 97-10-31 19:39:26 EST, kris wrote: > >{Bob, please forward this to the lojban list, my address file has been >destroyed. Also, please send me a note with the correct address for the >listserv, thank you.} > >> > > >Someone has to risk fucking their progeny up first. >> >> I'm curious if anyone here thinks this is a serious risk. Certainly one's >> progeny would be pretty malselgle if they were deliberately kept isolated >> from any exposure to natlangs -- they'd have to be raised in a basement >> and sleep on a mattress with the tag torn off (it has English on it!). >> >> But seriously, it has happened that kids have grown up with only exposure >> to unnatural languages; like Signed English or pidgins; and as I >--More-- >> understand it they naturally flesh it out into something usable. >> >> Do kids ever learn *2* languages at home at the same time? Friends of my >> dad tried raising their boy speaking 3 languages at once: the two parents >> were from different parts of India and lived in the US, and each would >> talk to the kid in both their own language and English. They panicked >> when the kid started mixing the three freely, and switched to all-English. >> Wouldn't he have straightened it out eventually? Can't "code-switchers" >> switch off the switching when speaking to a monoglot? If that's been >> shown to happen, it seems like this would calm the fears of parents trying >> this with Lojban. English would be "enough" for their mental >> development, and Lojban could only add to it, if it had any effect at all. > >Yes, your friends quit without need. Children exposed to more than one >language at the beginning do go through a stage of mixing them, but quickly >figure out who understands what and modify their speech accordingly. They >will continue to use a mix with someone who understands for a while, and if >they need to these children will borrow a word from one known language and >use it with another. > >The only concern I'd have (as a child development person) is that >intelligible speech may be somewhat delayed in multilingual children. It >--More-- >wouldn't stop me from using a second language with my children, though. The >delay isn't typically much of a problem. > >In support of multiple language use, children taught some sign language are >able to communicate at a younger age, generally, and are therefore less >frustrated and less frustrating. Both of the little girls I take care of >were exposed to some basic signs before they had words for the concepts and >they used the signs happily. Once they had verbal words, the girls usually >used both, at least with people who understood (me and their parents). One >is now 2 years-old and the other 18 months. I see the younger one much more >often than the older so she is exposed to sign more. I've found that as she >uses more verbal words, she is more interested in using signs as well. Just >last week she started signing "stop" to tell me she knew to leave her shoes >on in the car. > >-- karis.