This textbook explains how children learn to understand and speak two languages from birth. It brings together both established knowledge and the latest findings about different areas of bilingual language development in a perspective that emphasizes the role of children's language learning environments.

Increasingly, children grow up hearing two languages from birth. This comprehensive textbook explains how children learn to understand and speak those languages. It brings together both established knowledge and the latest findings about different areas of bilingual language development. It also includes new analyses of previously published materials. The book describes how bilingually raised children learn to understand and use sounds, words and sentences in two languages. A recurrent theme is the large degree of variation between bilingual children. This variation in how children develop bilingually reflects the variation in their language learning environments. Positive attitudes from the people in bilingual children's language learning environments and their recognition that child bilingualism is not monolingualism-times-two are the main ingredients ensuring that children grow up to be happy and expert speakers of two languages.

Chapter 1 Introducing Bilingual First Language Acquisition

Chapter 2 Bilingual children's language development: an overview

Chapter 3 Research methods in BFLA

Chapter 4 Socializing environments and BLFA

Chapter 5 Sounds in BFLA

Chapter 6 Words in BFLA

Chapter 7 Sentences in BFLA

Chapter 8 Harmonious bilingual development