Comparing levels of processability across languages

Abstract

In this article we utilize a developmental perspective as a metric for the comparison of bilingual language ability. In particular, we utilize Processabilty Theory (Pienemann, 1998a, 2005) which provides a psycholinguistic metric for developmental schedules of any given language. We demonstrate this approach to the cross-linguistic measurement of language development on the basis of Itani-Adams' (2007) study of bilingual (Japanese-English) first language acquisition.