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Lithuanian as L2: A Case Study of Russian Minority Children

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Multilingualism in the Baltic States

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Abstract

In this chapter we aim to examine the general linguistic performance of Lithuanian as L2 of a group of Russian–Lithuanian sequential preschool bilinguals . The research explores the micro-structural characteristics of narrative productions in order to investigate the linguistic domains of vocabulary and grammar and to discuss the results in the context of language exposure and dominance. The micro-structure displayed statistically significant differences between the bilingual and monolingual groups regarding two main parameters: general productivity and syntactic complexity. The main difference of the bilingual and monolingual groups was recorded for code switching and making errors, as these phenomena were observed significantly more often in the bilingual sample. The results showed that bilingual children living in a Lithuanian-language dominant city performed better at the micro-structure level than children from a more multilingual environment.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The p value indicates whether the results are significantly meaningful. A significant value is below 0.05 (p < 0.05). If the p value is over 0.05 (p > 0.05), it means that the results do not imply a meaningful or important difference. For example, if we compare the test results of the same age for boys and girls, we see that the boys’ result is 85% and the girls’ is 80%. SPSS Student ’s t-test criteria showed that the p value is 0.003 (p < 0.005). This means that the boys performed the test significantly better than the girls.

  2. 2.

    A box plot graph shows the distribution of a dataset. The upper whisker indicates maximum data values; the lower whisker indicates minimum data values; the middle line of the box indicates the median value (the middle number in a range of numbers).

  3. 3.

    The Lemma/Token Ratio is the relationship between the number of lemmas and the number of tokens (the number of words in a text). It is a measure of vocabulary and grammar variation in written or spoken text. The Noun Lemma/Token Ratio is the relationship between the number of noun lemmas and the number of all nouns in a text. The verb lemma/token ratio is the relationship between the number of verb lemmas and the number of all verbs in a text.

  4. 4.

    The analysis involved all the linguistic levels except phonology—namely, lexicon, morphology , word formation, morphosyntax and syntax. An utterance which was ungrammatical or for which no overt semantic meaning could be found was counted as an error.

  5. 5.

    Russian items are underlined.

  6. 6.

    This study did not collect any data on the families’ backgrounds or their attitudes. However, the first author of this chapter had a chance to discuss the profile of the families with the principal of the kindergarten , as parents had to provide written consent for their children to participate in the study. It was stated that most of the children belonged to the fourth generation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania

    Ineta Dabašinskienė & Eglė Krivickaitė-Leišienė

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  1. Ineta Dabašinskienė
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  2. Eglė Krivickaitė-Leišienė
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Correspondence to Ineta Dabašinskienė .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Languages and Design, Rēzekne Academy of Technologies, Rēzekne, Latvia

    Sanita Lazdiņa

  2. DAAD Information Centre Riga, Riga, Latvia

    Heiko F. Marten

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Dabašinskienė, I., Krivickaitė-Leišienė, E. (2019). Lithuanian as L2: A Case Study of Russian Minority Children. In: Lazdiņa, S., Marten, H. (eds) Multilingualism in the Baltic States. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56914-1_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56914-1_7

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