Transitional bilingualism is the shift from being

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

, knowing two different

language Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...

s, to only speaking one leading language. This usually happens over a period of time and can be seen within a few

generation A generation is all of the people born and living at about the same time, regarded collectively. It also is "the average period, generally considered to be about 20–⁠30 years, during which children are born and grow up, become adults, and b ...

s. There are families with

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

grandparent Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, or Grandma and Grandpa, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maxi ...

s who speak primarily their

native language A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period hypothesis, critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' ...

and some of the new country's language. Their

child A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

ren then speak both languages, but the grandchildren only speak the dominant or preferred language of the new location. The

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

provides many examples of this phenomenon. For example, a woman born and raised in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

moved to the United States and learned a bit of English and spoke a great deal of Spanish as well. Her daughter, born and reared in the U.S. was equally fluent in both Spanish and English (bilingual). The grandchild of the Mexican immigrant, who was born and has been reared in the U.S., speaks only English.(Ottenheimer, 2006, p. 237-238) This process is due to the pressure that is put on the individuals by the

society A society () is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. ...

of the new environment. They cannot survive well without the primary language spoken in their new home and eventually, since fewer and fewer people speak the "old" native language, it is not used as often, as it is not a necessity, and is lost.

Notes

References

* Ottenheimer, H.T. (2006). The Anthropology of Language. Kansas State University: Thomson Wadsworth. {{DEFAULTSORT:Transitional Bilingualism Bilingualism

See also

Notes

References