# Early Bilingual Language Learning in Multi-Speaker Environments

> **NIH NIH F32** · PRINCETON UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $30,967

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 In bilingual environments, children must separately discover the regularities in each of their two languages.
It has been suggested that this process may be easier when each language can be associated with a particular
speaker (e.g., one parent speaks one language, while the other speaks the second). However, there have
been no direct empirical tests of this proposal. The proposed experiments will test the principle behind this
question, that reliable associations between speaker and language facilitate learning of linguistic structures, in
both simulated and real bilingual environments. This research will therefore provide insights that are both
crucial for the scientific understanding of bilingualism and of great interest to parents and educators seeking to
improve language outcomes for bilingual children.
 Specific Aim 1 is to examine how infants make use of the presence of different speakers to inform their
learning. Our studies will compare and contrast bilingual and monolingual infants’ attention to the
correspondence between speakers and the input they provide. Though it has been assumed that consistent
associations make it easier for bilingual infants to separate the languages in their environment, there is no
evidence demonstrating that infants track this association. Experiment 1 will provide the first empirical test of
whether bilingual and/or monolingual infants keep track of the languages used by new speakers in their
environment. In a preliminary study, we simulated two bilingual environments that varied in whether structure
was systematically tied to a speaker. We found that monolingual infants showed no difference in their learning,
suggesting that they did not benefit from the added consistency. Experiment 2 will test whether bilingual infants,
whose home environment contains different cues, show enhanced learning when there are correlations
between speaker and structure. Specific Aim 2 will apply these questions to real bilingual experience and ask
whether consistent speaker cues facilitate bilingual language learning. Experiment 3 will use a lab-based
manipulation to test whether bilingual toddlers are better able to learn new labels that are produced by
speakers who consistently use a single language. In Experiment 4, we will explore these effects in real home
environments. We will collect recordings from bilingual homes and ask whether toddlers who experience more
consistent language use in their daily lives show enhanced vocabulary development. Together, these studies
will provide the most rigorous test to date of whether bilingual children benefit from hearing individual speakers
remain consistent in their language use and thus will inform future practices and interventions designed to
promote dual language learning.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9978902
- **Project number:** 5F32HD093139-03
- **Recipient organization:** PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Christine Potter
- **Activity code:** F32 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $30,967
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2021-01-16

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9978902

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9978902, Early Bilingual Language Learning in Multi-Speaker Environments (5F32HD093139-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9978902. Licensed CC0.

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