This article reviews prominent research on non-English-speaking children’s extramural acquisition of English through digital media, and examines the understudied scenario of possible effects of such second language (L2) English input on domestically dominant but globally small first languages (L1s), with Icelandic as the test case. We outline the main results of the children’s part of the Modeling the Linguistic Consequences of Digital Language Contact (MoLiCoDiLaCo) research project, which targeted 724 3–12-year-old Icelandic-speaking children. The focus is on English input and its relationship to the children’s Icelandic/English vocabulary and Icelandic grammar. Although a causal relationship between digital English and reduced/incompletely acquired Icelandic is often assumed in public discourse, our results do not show large-scale effects of L2 digital English on L1 Icelandic. English still seems to be a relatively small part of Icelandic children’s language environment, and although we find some indications of contact induced/reinforced language change, i.e. in the standard use of the subjunctive, as well as reduced MLU/NDW (mean length of utterance/number of different words) in the Icelandic language samples, we do not find pervasive effects of L2 English on L1 Icelandic. On the other hand, the results show contextual L2 learning of English by Icelandic-speaking children through mostly receptive digital input. Thus, the results imply that English digital language input contributes mainly to L2 English skills without adversely affecting L1 Icelandic.

本文回顾了关于非英语儿童通过数字媒体在壁外习得英语的杰出研究，并考察了这种第二语言（L2）英语输入对国内占主导地位但在全球范围内较小的第一语言（L1）可能产生的影响的未被充分了解的情况。以冰岛语为测试用例。我们概述了数字语言接触的语言后果建模中儿童部分的主要结果（MoLiCoDiLaCo）研究项目，针对724个3-12岁的讲冰岛语的儿童。重点是英语输入及其与儿童冰岛语/英语词汇和冰岛语法的关系。尽管通常在公共话语中假定数字英语与减少/不完全习得的冰岛语之间存在因果关系，但我们的结果并未显示L2数字英语对L1冰岛语的大规模影响。英语似乎仍然只是冰岛儿童语言环境中的一小部分，尽管我们发现了一些接触引起的/强化的语言变化的迹象，例如虚拟语气的标准用法，以及减少的MLU / NDW（平均发音长度） /个不同字数）在冰岛语语言样本中，我们找不到L2英语对L1冰岛语的普遍影响。另一方面，结果显示，讲冰岛语的儿童大多通过接受性数字输入来进行英语二语学习。因此，结果表明英语数字语言输入主要有助于提高L2英语技能，而不会对L1冰岛语产生不利影响。