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theses

Although there are a burgeoning number of studies on second-generation immigrants in the U.S., research examining the effects of birth order on language use patterns and the expression of ideologies has been largely neglected. A small but growing number of studies has begun to examine the critical role siblings play in the language patterns of bilingual children (e.g., Bridges and Hoff, 2014; Kheirkah and Cekaite, 2018; King, 2013; Shin, 2002), which suggests that older siblings play a significant role in the language practices of younger family members, such that first-born children bring home English through homework, peer networks, and media. To my knowledge, however, no study has simultaneously addressed the linguistic and language socialization perspectives of bilingualism in the family, nor examined the expression of ideologies among U.S. Spanish-English bilingual sibling pairs. In this study, I combined insights gained from language socialization and child language development studies within the larger field of sociolinguistics, examining the individual and family factors involved in Spanish-language maintenance in six sibling pairs. More specifically, the project uses qualitative and quantitative approaches to answer the following research questions:

1.How do children’s reported age of initial exposure to English and their reported linguistic proficiencies in Spanish compare between older and younger siblings?
2.How do older and younger siblings compare in their knowledge of expressive vocabulary and morphosyntax in Spanish and English?
3.What are the siblings’ Spanish-language use patterns as captured in their oral narratives? More specifically:
oWhat is the distribution of verbal tense, mood, and aspect (TMA) morphology in older and younger siblings’ Spanish narratives?
oWhat relationship exists between sibling order and use of Spanish linguistic-features (e.g., gender article agreement) in oral narratives in Spanish?
oWhat relationship exists between sibling order and use of English lexical insertions in children’s oral narratives in Spanish?
4.What is the nature of siblings’ language ideologies?
5.What are the siblings’ observed and reported language practices within the home and school domain?

The study was conducted using mother and child interviews, ethnographically-informed observations in the home and school domain, and English-Spanish language assessments. In short, the study revealed differences between older and younger siblings’ language use patterns, as captured by their reported proficiencies in Spanish and language assessments. The findings further revealed that all younger siblings were exposed to English at an earlier age than their older brother or sister. Furthermore, in the production task, statistical differences were found between older and younger siblings’ use of Spanish-linguistic features, such as gender article agreement and verbal morphology, and their use of English lexical insertions in Spanish narratives. Qualitatively, these diverse language patterns were instantiated in the ways focal siblings viewed and used language in the Otter Creek community. Mother and child interviews, audio-recorded interactions, as well as ethnographically-informed observations, revealed younger siblings’ overall preference for using English. These data also documented explanatory factors in describing the siblings’ language choices, such as their social and family networks. These networks and ideological predispositions toward the heritage language played a key role in the siblings’ agentive choices when using their languages in school, attesting to significant resources for language maintenance, which went undetected and even unappreciated by the school’s language education policy. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of language maintenance and shift, showing how these siblings’ agency and ideological orientations toward the heritage were reflected in their comparatively unequal amounts of exposure and, concomitantly, their language patterns in Spanish in one purposefully selected community in New Jersey.

ETD_9564

Ph.D.

Includes bibliographical references

doi:10.7282/t3-cffw-yz88

ETD doctoral

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