| This study investigates whether young children learning two languages simultaneously are inherently weak language learners compared to their monolingual counterparts. The vocabulary skills of 10 German-English bilingual toddlers were compared with monolingual German- and English-speaking peers around 24 months of age using Rescorla's (1989) Language Development Survey, a vocabulary checklist based on parental report, in its original English and a German translated version.;Findings revealed that bilingual toddlers were not inferior in conceptual vocabulary size and verb diversity when words in both languages were pooled. In addition, almost half of the bilingual conceptual vocabulary (43%) was associated with lexical forms in both languages, from which it is inferred that language separation is possible at age 2.;These findings suggest that no special norms for vocabulary skills need be developed for German-English bilinguals, and that existing instruments may be exploited in the future for speakers of other languages. |
