Verbal morphological acquisition in a comparative study between bilingual and monolingual children

Abstract

This study aims to present the results of the research made about theacquisition of verbal morphology. Two children were compared; One bilingual (Portuguese and Spanish) and another monolingual (Portuguese) in order to problematize topics linked to the verbal vocabulary in Portuguese. As theoretical foundations, the project is grounded on the Romaine’s studies (2004) about bilinguals, assuming that the development of two languages are competing in the linguistic system brings up differences in the vocabulary between monolinguals and bilinguals. The methodology used in the research was composed by the studies of Berko (1958) and Lorandi’s (2011), about the verbal words production. The results of the data evaluation points out that there are really relevant vocabulary differences between the children analyzed, but they provoked reflection about the bilingual and his choice of the language he uses depending on the context and, principally, his interlocutor. It is been looking forward this project could be a complementation for the language studies about bilinguals, as well as improve it in future projects in order to confirm certain results.