Nuevas aportaciones a la Hipótesis de Interdependencia Lingüística en escolares bilingües

Résumé

The Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis has reached greater empirical support in the last few years. This hypothesis has been successfully assessed in linguistic immersion programmes as well as in familiar language maintenance programmes. Little attention has however been paid to contexts where there is strong imbalanced between the different languages in contact, and students� mother tongue does not receive specific support. This is the case of students living in Eastern Aragon, where the two contact languages (Castilian and Catalan) coexist in rather unbalanced conditions, in favour of the former. Most of the school population speak Catalan at home, but all instruction takes place in Castilian. The study focusses on this problem, and undertakes a comparative analysis of Catalan and Castilian linguistic competence of Eastern Aragon students. A further comparison is undertaken between these students, and their peers living in Catalonia (bilingual) and in Aragon (monolingual). Results support the study hypothesis of an interdependence between students� Catalan and Castilian linguistic knowledge.