Acquisition of syntax in Panjabi and English

Ninety‐nine bilingual children with Panjabi as a mother‐tongue and English as a second language were assessed, in three age/term groups between six and a half and eight and a half years, on oral expressive language tests of their syntax development in Panjabi and in English. The two major findings were, firstly, that in English second language development seems to follow, broadly speaking, first language acquisition patterns and, secondly, that there are almost no data to support the idea of language transfer as far as mixing of Panjabi syntax into English is concerned, while there appears to be intrusion of English into Panjabi in specific structures.