Some theoretical considerations of bilingual development.

3 aspects of bilingual development are discussed. 1st, the environmental, linguistic conditions that impinge upon a growing individual are described. 2nd, changes in the set of word relations are contrasted with changes in the vocabulary. 3rd, relations also form the basis from which semantic and syntactic classes are derived. The free ends of 2 intersecting relations represent the minimal condition for the definition of a class. As a most stringent criterion, the free branches are to be symmetrically related. Examples of complex networks and different types of relations are given and the possibilities discussed of deriving word classes empirically, of defining meaning operationally, and of applying digraph theory for their analysis. The ambiguity of function words and interlingual syntactic transformations concludes the discussion of bilingual development. According to the traditional viewpoints in psychology, words (or the ideas which they represent) have been regarded as basic elements between which connections (associations) are formed on the basis of experience.