Bahrick H P, Hall L K, Goggin J P, Bahrick L E, Berger S A
Department of Psychology, Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware 43015.
J Exp Psychol Gen. 1994 Sep;123(3):264-83. doi: 10.1037//0096-3445.123.3.264.
Spanish language tests of 801 Cuban and Mexican immigrants showed no evidence of language loss during 50 years of U.S. residence; a few years after immigration, their English vocabulary approximated that of English monolinguals. The critical-age hypothesis was not supported for the acquisition of English vocabulary when English schooling and language usage were controlled by multiple regression. Most Ss continued to speak about as much Spanish as English; but read, wrote, and heard (on television and radio) far more English than Spanish. Under these conditions, Ss maintained Spanish dominance on tests of vocabulary recognition, lexical decision, and oral comprehension. Dominance was task specific and shifted to English on a category generation task about 12 years after immigration. No evidence of bilingual language interference was found; this is attributed to the strong Spanish foundation of the participants.
对801名古巴和墨西哥移民进行的西班牙语测试表明，在美国居住50年期间没有语言丧失的迹象；移民几年后，他们的英语词汇量接近只说英语的人。当通过多元回归控制英语学校教育和语言使用情况时，关键期假说在英语词汇习得方面未得到支持。大多数受测者说西班牙语和英语的比例仍然差不多；但阅读、写作以及通过电视和广播听英语的时间远多于西班牙语。在这些条件下，受测者在词汇识别、词汇判断和口语理解测试中保持西班牙语优势。这种优势是特定任务的，并且在移民大约12年后，在类别生成任务中转向了英语。未发现双语语言干扰的证据；这归因于参与者坚实的西班牙语基础。
