Previous research has suggested that the language development of bilingual children benefits from more exposure and opportunities for language use. Typically, this research has used aggregated measures of exposure and use. The role of specific interlocutors and in particular older siblings has received comparatively little attention. In this study, we examine the impact of having an older sibling on the language environment and language development of a group of 31 bilingual Greek–Dutch toddlers aged 16 to 30 months growing up in the Netherlands. Approximately half (n = 14) of the toddlers had an older sibling. With respect to language environment, toddlers with older siblings were in general found to hear and use more Dutch at home than their first-born peers. There were however no differences between the two groups of toddlers in terms of parental language use. With respect to language development, toddlers with older siblings were found to score higher than first-born peers on measures of Dutch receptive vocabulary, productive vocabulary, and morphosyntactic complexity. For Greek, no such differences were observed. The findings are discussed in light of factors including family constellation, parental language proficiency, bilingual parenting strategies, and the wider sociolinguistic context.

中文翻译：

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哥哥姐姐对双语幼儿语言环境和语言发展的影响

先前的研究表明，双语儿童的语言发展得益于更多的语言接触和使用机会。通常，这项研究使用了暴露和使用的汇总措施。特定对话者，特别是年长的兄弟姐妹的作用相对较少受到关注。在这项研究中，我们研究了在荷兰长大的 31 名 16 至 30 个月的希腊-荷兰双语幼儿的语言环境和语言发展对兄弟姐妹的影响。大约一半（n= 14) 的幼儿有一个年长的兄弟姐妹。在语言环境方面，一般发现有哥哥姐姐的幼儿在家里听到和使用的荷兰语比他们的第一胎同龄人更多。然而，两组幼儿在父母语言使用方面没有差异。在语言发展方面，发现有兄弟姐妹的幼儿在荷兰语接受词汇、生产词汇和形态句法复杂性方面的得分高于长子同龄人。对于希腊语，没有观察到这种差异。研究结果是根据包括家庭星座、父母语言能力、双语育儿策略和更广泛的社会语言背景在内的因素进行讨论的。