We know that children growing up with two languages simultaneously, learn to distinguish between e.g., phonology, lexicon, and morphosyntax in their two languages. But what about their underlying conceptualization of events? In her PhD project, Andresen explored how Norwegian-English bilingual children conceptualize goal-oriented motion events in their two languages, which due to grammatical distinctions are found to have different, and partly conflicting, conceptualization patterns of the same events.
By analyzing verbal, eye-tracking, and memory data, Andresen investigated whether the children’s linguistic and visual attention, as well as their memory of it afterwards, varied according to the patterns of the language they were speaking. The findings indicate that the bilingual children select different content for verbalization in their two languages, and furthermore that they observe the same events slightly differently, as measured by eye-tracking. Thus, Andresen argues that the bilingual children have a strong conceptual awareness in both their languages, and that looking “under the surface”, i.e., looking at more than just linguistic data, is crucial when investigating bilingual children.
The dissertation has implications for our understanding of the bilingual mind, and of the connection between conceptualization and other factors, such as language of operation, memory, and previous experience. Most importantly, the PhD study demonstrates the flexibility of the bilingual mind, with implications for parents, care givers, and stakeholders, who at times need to be reminded of children’s unique capacity for language learning.
Trial lecture
Designated topic: "To What Extent And In What Ways Is Ongoingness Grammaticalized In Norwegian, And What Role Does The Pseudo-Coordinaton Construction Play In This Process?"
31 May 2024, 10.15 am, Eilert Sundts hus Auditorium 7
Evaluation committee
- Professor Scott Jarvis, Northern Arizona University (first opponent)
- Professor Ann-Kristin Helland Gujord, University of Bergen (second oponent)
- Professor Ingebjørg Tonne, University of Oslo (committee administrator)
Chair of the defence
- Professor Unn Røyneland, University of Oslo
Supervisors
- Professor Anne Golden, University of Oslo
- Barbara Mertins, TU Dortmund