Abstract

This study is an investigation of the early language learning of multilingual children. Specifically, it explores the lexical biases of Bantoanon preschool children (from the province of Romblon in the Philippines), who are exposed to three languages: Ásì (a minority language), Filipino (the national language), and English. In addition, it also looks at the relationship between gender and the lexical biases. This study draws upon theories where preschool children learn either nouns or verbs first. The findings reveal that the Bantoanon children have a noun bias, but only in the English language; they have a verb bias in Ásì and Filipino. The results indicate no statistically significant relationship between gender and the children’s lexical biases. Numerous studies on children’s lexical bias have been conducted but they tend to focus only on monolingual or bilingual children. This study not only considers multilingual children but also gives representation to an understudied language; it is the first to study the early languages of the Bantoanon children. It also weighs in the contrasting findings of previous studies on Filipino children’s lexical bias.