The effect of language shift on the acquisition of orientational systems, Choctaw and English☆☆☆
Abstract The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, a Muskogean group in north-central Mississippi, have maintained their language to an extraordinary degree. Until very recently more than 95% of children entering school spoke Choctaw as their sole or dominant language. This research reports changes in children's languages resulting from recent socioeconomic factors which hove precipitated a ‘tip’ (Dorian 1989) toward English language use. The local perception of ‘mixed’ language is examined and attributed to borrowed English lexicon in Choctaw discourse. Two morphosyntactic structures are examined as well, locatives and possessives; these may be grouped, semantically and formally, for the examination of comparative acquisitional processes (Clark, 1978; Johnston & Slobin, 1979; Lyons, 1975; Slobin, 1985). In L2 acquisition where the languages involved ore typologically distinct and the locative systems are noncomparoble, analysis of children's use of locatives and other orientational devices allows observation of cross-linguistic variation in acquiring the grammatical realizations of a relatively intricate yet restricted semantic domain. Findings support the interdependency of linguistic development in bilingual settings, but not proposed generalizations for the orderly emergence, cross-linguistically, of specific locatives. With regard to possessor systems, the effects of morphological pressure from the L2 are clearly demonstrated in the L1 possessor system. Issues and advantages of conducting collaborative research are addressed.