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Developmental differences in aspectual knowledge for English-Mandarin bilinguals in Singapore
The main purpose of this research is to investigate primary and secondary level Singaporean students’ English grammatical knowledge with regard to aspect. As developing bilinguals, Singaporean pupils are exposed to both English and other local languages that widely differ syntactically and phonologically. In addition, pupils’ English language input is often a creolized form, or Colloquial Singapore English (citations on creole), whose grammar is heavily influenced by local languages. For the majority this is Mandarin Chinese. Both factors of bilingualism (e.g., English and Mandarin Chinese) and diglossia (Colloquial Singapore English and Standard Singapore English) introduce a degree of ambiguity in language input that will influence the accrual of ‘correct’ grammatical forms and features.
In this study, we investigate students’ grammar knowledge system using an experimental paradigm. Specifically, we query students’ knowledge about verb tense morphology and noun-based features that contribute to interpretations of linguistic aspect, examining children of different ages and language backgrounds. Aspect is a temporal notion relating to how a linguistic event unfolds in time. The expression of temporal information is considered the most important domain of grammar (Li & Shirai, 2000), and essential to successful communication – it would be hard to imagine how communication can proceed smoothly if parties misinterpret whether an event being discussed has been completed, or is still on-going.