| Funding Scheme : |
General Research Fund |
| Project Number : |
14623425 |
| Project Title(English) : |
Input dilution and supplementation in monolingual and bilingual siblings |
| Project Title(Chinese) : |
單語及雙語兄弟姊妹中的「輸入稀釋」和「輸入補充」 |
| Principal Investigator(English) : |
Prof Mai, Ziyin |
| Principal Investigator(Chinese) : |
麥子茵 |
| Department : |
Dept of Linguistics and Modern Languages |
| Institution : |
The Chinese University of Hong Kong |
| Co - Investigator(s) : |
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Dr Deng, Xiangjun
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Dr Pang, Vanessa
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Prof Yip, Virginia Choy Yin
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| Panel : |
Humanities, Social Sciences |
| Subject Area : |
Psychology and Linguistics |
| Exercise Year : |
2025 / 26 |
| Fund Approved : |
973,000 |
| Project Status : |
On-going
|
| Completion Date : |
30-6-2028 |
Abstract as per original application
(English/Chinese): |
With the end of the one-child policy, children in China are beginning to grow up with siblings again, with many of them bilingual in their home language/dialect and in the school/majority language. Previous studies of mostly Western populations show that language development of secondborn toddlers is sometimes slower than firstborns, probably because parents with multiple children have to split their time and attention between children, leading to “dilution” of the language input directed to each child. This dilution can have a larger negative impact on the younger sibling, since parental (especially maternal) input often constitutes the main source of language input for the youngest children. However, new evidence has suggested that some secondborns are able to outperform age-matched firstborns, likely because the older siblings in these cases have provided helpful language input for the younger sibling, potentially compensating for the diluted input from the parents and boosting language development of the secondborns (“input supplementation”). Nevertheless, existing studies have only been able to provide indirect evidence for input dilution and supplementation, and the focus has been on monolingual siblings. Important variables such as language proficiency and relationship of the siblings have not been systematically investigated or controlled for. Sibling input as a major factor in early language development and bilingualism has been overlooked.
The proposed study fills the theoretical and empirical gap and addresses new societal needs by investigating input dilution and supplementation in monolingual (Mandarin) and bilingual (Cantonese-Mandarin, Cantonese-English) siblings in Hong Kong and Shenzhen, China. We will recruit 120 mother-firstborn-secondborn triads with closely-spaced siblings between ages 3 and 9, controlling for gender of the firstborn and factoring in the siblings’ language proficiency and relationship. Parental report and direct observation of dyadic and triadic free play will be employed to measure aspects of input dilution and supplementation in the status quo. An innovative “treasure-hunt game” paradigm will be developed to explore the potential of the firstborn as an input provider in conditions optimized for sibling interaction. The elicited language samples will interface smoothly with AI-assisted transcription pipelines and allow analyses of multilingual input at fine-grained linguistic, conceptual and interactional levels. The proposed project is a sequel to the PI’s on-going RGC projects to study the complex and dynamic linguistic environment of young children and its role in language acquisition, and to construct open-access databases to benefit the research community.
隨著中國內地獨生子女政策的終止，許多家庭又迎來了年幼的兄弟姊妹。在較年幼的手足出生時，不少較年長的手足已經在家庭和學校環境中掌握了不同程度的雙語能力（例如中文和英文，或中國方言和普通話）。先前以西方人口為主的研究表明，第二子女（次胎）在幼年時期的語言發展有時會稍遜於第一子女（頭胎），這可能源於多子女父母不得不將時間和注意力分配給各個子女，導致每個子女獲得的語言輸入被「稀釋」。這種稀釋對同一家庭中較年幼子女的負面影響可能更大，因為幼兒最主要的語言輸入通常來自父母（尤其是母親）。然而，新的研究證據顯示，部分第二子女的語言發展有可能超越第一子女在同齡時的表現，這很可能是因為年長手足為年幼手足提供了有益的語言輸入，從而抵消了父母輸入的稀釋效應，並促進了年幼手足的語言發展（「輸入補充」）。但現有研究僅能提供關於輸入稀釋與補充的間接證據，且主要關注單語環境中的兄弟姊妹，尚未對語言熟練度、手足關係等重要變量進行系統的研究或控制。作為早期語言發展和雙語習得的關鍵因素，年長手足的語言輸入的作用被長期忽視。
本研究將考察中國香港和深圳的單語（普通話）與雙語（粵語-普通話、粵語-英語）家庭中第一子女和第二子女的語言互動，旨在填補這一理論與實證空白，同時回應新的社會訴求。我們將招募120組「母親-第一子女-第二子女」的三人組合（第二子女年齡為3-9歲，且與第一子女的年齡間隔較小），在控制第一子女的性別變量的同時，將手足各自的語言能力以及手足關係納入分析框架。我們將邀請家長進行訪談，並直接觀察雙人/三人自由遊戲時的語言互動，以評估第二子女所獲實際語言輸入的稀釋與補充狀況。同時，我們將開發創新的「尋寶遊戲」實驗範式，探索年長的子女在手足協作活動中擔當語言輸入提供者的潛力。所採集的語言樣本將與AI輔助轉錄系統無縫對接，從微觀語言特徵、認知概念表達和人際互動模式等多個層面對多語言輸入進行精細化考察。
本研究計劃是首席研究員現時正在進行的香港研究資助局「優配研究金」和「傑出青年學者計劃」項目的延伸研究。這三項研究計劃之間緊密關聯，旨在從不同維度探究幼兒所處的複雜多變的語言環境對早期語言習得的影響，並建設開源數據庫以惠及學界。
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| Research Outcome |
Layman's Summary of
Completion Report: |
Not yet submitted
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