Linguistic cues and number word acquisition in a multilingual context

This study investigated the language codes used by the multilingual children and their mothers in uttering number words and the role of linguistic cues in the children's acquisition of number word meanings. The study further inquired into the possible variation in the role of linguistic cues in number word acquisition across languages such as Cebuano, English, and Filipino. The participants of this study were twelve Cebuano-English-Filipino multilingual children aged 1.5 -3 years old and their mothers. The mother-child dyads' spontaneous interactions during bathing, dressing, feeding, playing, and reading were recorded for five hours (non-continuous). Results revealed that the mothers and their children preferred to use the English code frequently in uttering number words. They also used the other language codes such as Cebuano, Filipino and Spanish but not as frequently as the English code. The results also showed that linguistic cues play a significant role in the children's acquisition of number words. Also, the role of linguistic cues varied across languages.