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The role of linguistic context and language similarity in the relationship between language exposure and language proficiency in bilingual children

ORCiD logo with link | Radboud University Nijmegen
ORCiD logo with link | Radboud University Nijmegen
ORCiD logo with link | Radboud University Nijmegen
ORCiD logo with link | Radboud University Nijmegen
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Radboud University Nijmegen.

Published online: 27 November 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.25035.van
Abstract
Amount of exposure has consistently been shown to influence language development in bilingual children. To date, it has been treated as a variable that affects language development in the same way in different groups of bilingual children, but insights from several fields suggest that the similarity between languages and the context in which they are acquired may play a modulating role. This study therefore investigated the relationship between amount of exposure and language proficiency in different groups of bilingual children, varying in language similarity (Dutch–German vs. Dutch–French) and linguistic context (societal vs. heritage language). We found that language similarity affected the amount of exposure needed to reach a certain level of proficiency. Linguistic context had an effect too, although not for all languages tested. Overall, this study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how amount of exposure shapes language development in bilingual children.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Amount of exposure and language proficiency
    • 1.2Linguistic context
    • 1.3Language similarity
    • 1.4Present study
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Materials
      • 2.2.1Sentence repetition task
      • 2.2.2Parental questionnaire
      • 2.2.3Procedure
    • 2.3Coding and analysis
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Descriptive statistics
    • 3.2The effect of language similarity and linguistic context on Dutch language proficiency
    • 3.3The effect of language similarity and linguistic context on German and French language proficiency
    • 3.4Exploratory analyses without trilingual children
  • 4.Discussion
    • 4.1The effect of language similarity and linguistic context on Dutch language proficiency
    • 4.2The effect of language similarity and linguistic context on German/French language proficiency
  • Data availability statement
  • CRediT statement
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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