Simona Montanari
Biographic Data
| ID | 744656 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Simona Montanari |
| GIVEN NAMES | Simona |
| FAMILY NAME | Montanari |
| SIGNATURE | MONTANARI S |
| AFFILIATIONS | California State University Los Angeles |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0751-1335 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 3 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Heritage language development in Spanish–English-speaking preschoolers: Influences on growth and challenges in the first year of English-only instruction
This study investigates the changes in the Spanish lexical and grammatical skills of 26 Spanish–English dual language learners during their first year of preschool. We also explore the impact of age, gender, and maternal cultural orientation on children’s language outcomes over time. The results show that, despite one year of English-only instruction, the children’s Spanish productions became more intelligible, lexically diverse, and grammatical …
Community language exposure affects voice onset time patterns in Spanish-English bilingual children and functional English monolingual children
This study examined English VOT productions by 37 Spanish-English bilingual children and 37 matched functional monolinguals, all aged 3–6 years, from the same Latinx community. It also assessed the bilinguals’ Spanish stop productions and investigated the effects of age and language exposure on their VOT productions. The results revealed credible between-group differences on English voiced, but not voiceless, stops, with shorter VOTs for bilingua…
Parent-child interaction during storybook reading: Wordless narrative books versus books with text
This study examines the content and function of parent-child talk while engaging in shared storybook reading with two narrative books: a wordless book versus a book with text. Thirty-six parents audio-recorded themselves reading one of the books at home with their 3.5–5.5-year-old children. Pragmatic and linguistic measures of parental and child talk during both narrative storytelling and dialogic interactions were compared between the wordless a…
Stop voicing perception in the societal and heritage language of Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers: The role of age, input quantity and input diversity
Speech and language outcomes in low-SES Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers: The role of maternal education
This paper presents a longitudinal examination of Spanish and English phonological, lexical, and morpho-syntactic abilities in 20 low-SES bilingual preschoolers with mothers who had either completed primary or secondary education in Spanish in their country of origin, Mexico. We focused on the link between maternal education and the following spontaneous production measures: 1) phonological accuracy as measured by Percent of Consonants Correct-Re…
Student Stop Out and Retention at a Hispanic-Serving Institution in Southern California: The Role of Background, Academic, and Environmental Factors
This study explores the demographic/background, academic, and environmental factors that predicted student retention after stopping out at a large Hispanic-serving institution in Southern California. The results show that (a) gender, (b) academic background, experience, readiness, and performance, and (c) personal and financial issues predicted retention. We interpret these findings in the context of existing literature and provide suggestions to…
Parental attitudes and activism reshape educational language policies: The surge of dual language programmes in California
While educational language policies have been shown to have a stronger influence on school-aged children’s multilingual outcomes than Family Language Policy, California provides an example of how parental motivation and activism can also have a profound impact on educational language policies. This paper has two goals: first, it provides an overview of the legislative changes that affected California’s educational system between the 1970s and the…
Maternal Cultural Orientation and Speech Sound Production in Spanish/English Dual Language Preschoolers
Empirical work has shown that maternal education is related to children's language outcomes, especially in the societal language, among Spanish-English bilingual children growing up in the U.S. However, no study thus far has assessed the links between maternal cultural orientation and children's speech sound production. This paper explores whether mothers' orientation to American (acculturation) and Mexican culture (enculturation) and overall lin…
A longitudinal investigation of language mixing in Spanish–English dual language learners: The role of language proficiency, variability, and sociolinguistic factors
This study examines language mixing in 26 Spanish–English dual language learners over the course of their first year of preschool. The children's patterns of language choice while interacting in monolingual language contexts were analyzed at age 3;6 and 4;5 to examine: (1) whether the frequency of language mixing changed during the year; (2) whether mixing was related to proficiency as measured by utterance length and lexical diversity; and (3) w…
Sammarinese, the Endangered Language of the Republic of San Marino: A Preliminary Study of Documentation and Description
This paper presents the results of a preliminary study of documentation and description of Sammarinese, a peripheral variety of Romagnol spoken in the Republic of San Marino. Despite having been the country’s primary oral language for almost 1,000 years, Sammarinese is on the verge of extinction today as universal education and economic development have caused language shift to Italian beginning from the 1960s. A corpus of primary oral language d…
The Development of Writing Skills in an Italian-English Two-Way Immersion Program: Evidence from First Through Fifth Grade
This study examines the writing skills of students in grades 1 to 5 of an Italian-English two-way immersion program. Narrative writing samples were collected in both languages and scored for content, organization, grammar, mechanics, vocabulary, text length, and overall total score. The results show that writing skills improved as a function of grade. Although children from Italian-English bilingual homes obtained higher Italian scores than Engli…
Cross-linguistic interaction in trilingual phonological development: The role of the input in the acquisition of the voicing contrast
This paper examines the production of word-initial stops by two simultaneous trilingual sisters, aged 6;8 and 8;1, who receive regular input in Italian and English from multiple speakers, but in Spanish from only one person. The children's productions in each language were analyzed acoustically and compared to those of their main input providers. The results revealed consistent cross-linguistic differences by both children, including between Ital…
A case study of bi-literacy development among children enrolled in an Italian–English dual language program in Southern California
This study examines bi-literacy development among 60 children enrolled in an Italian–English dual language (DL) program in Southern California. Using a variety of measures including (1) oral reading fluency (ORF), (2) accuracy scores, and (3) standardized test for the assessment of reading (STAR) test's estimates of reading ability for English, the study investigates how Italian and English literacy skills emerged and developed among first-, seco…
Translation Equivalents and the Emergence of Multiple Lexicons in Early Trilingual Development
This study examines lexical differentiation in early trilingual development through an analysis of the translation equivalents (TEs) produced by a Tagalog—Spanish—English trilingual child. The child’s cumulative vocabulary between 1;4 and 2;0 was reconstructed through diary records and audio-recordings, and the extent to which phonetically distinct equivalent doublets and triplets were represented in her cumulative lexicon was examined. The resul…
Phonological differentiation before age two in a Tagalog–Spanish–English trilingual child
This study focuses on a trilingual toddler's ability to differentiate her Tagalog, Spanish and English productions on phonological/phonetic grounds. Working within the articulatory phonology framework, the word-initial segments produced by the child in Tagalog, Spanish and English words at age 1;10 were narrowly transcribed by two researchers and her accuracy levels in employing/reproducing the specific gestural properties of word-initial consona…
Pragmatic differentiation in early trilingual development
This study examines pragmatic differentiation in early trilingual development through a longitudinal analysis of language choice in a developing Tagalog–Spanish–English trilingual child. The child's patterns of language choice with different language users are analyzed at age 1 ; 10 and 2 ; 4 to examine: (1) whether evidence for pragmatic differentiation can be found even before age two and in simultaneous interactions with distinct language user…
Stephen J. Caldas, Raising bilingual-biliterate children in monolingual cultures
Stephen J. Caldas, Raising bilingual-biliterate children in monolingual cultures. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2006. Pp. xvi, 231. Pb. $39.95. This is the fascinating story of the author's own family project of raising his three children French-English bilingually in English-speaking Louisiana. Caldas, a French-English bilingual himself, and his bilingual French-Canadian wife artificially orchestrate and manipulate the children's environme…
The development of narrative competence in the L1 and L2 of Spanish-English bilingual children
The present paper examines the development of narrative competence in the two languages of three Spanish-English bilingual children with different proficiency levels in each language. The children's narratives, elicited at two different times over a six-month span, are examined in terms of the young narrator's ability to organize the story around an overall theme line, his/her capacity to evaluate the narrative and reach the audience, and his /he…
Student Stop Out and Retention at a Hispanic-Serving Institution in Southern California: The Role of Background, Academic, and Environmental Factors
This study explores the demographic/background, academic, and environmental factors that predicted student retention after stopping out at a large Hispanic-serving institution in Southern California. The results show that (a) gender, (b) academic background, experience, readiness, and performance, and (c) personal and financial issues predicted retention. We interpret these findings in the context of existing literature and provide suggestions to…
Parental attitudes and activism reshape educational language policies: The surge of dual language programmes in California
While educational language policies have been shown to have a stronger influence on school-aged children’s multilingual outcomes than Family Language Policy, California provides an example of how parental motivation and activism can also have a profound impact on educational language policies. This paper has two goals: first, it provides an overview of the legislative changes that affected California’s educational system between the 1970s and the…
Phonological differentiation before age two in a Tagalog–Spanish–English trilingual child
This study focuses on a trilingual toddler's ability to differentiate her Tagalog, Spanish and English productions on phonological/phonetic grounds. Working within the articulatory phonology framework, the word-initial segments produced by the child in Tagalog, Spanish and English words at age 1;10 were narrowly transcribed by two researchers and her accuracy levels in employing/reproducing the specific gestural properties of word-initial consona…
The development of narrative competence in the L1 and L2 of Spanish-English bilingual children
The present paper examines the development of narrative competence in the two languages of three Spanish-English bilingual children with different proficiency levels in each language. The children's narratives, elicited at two different times over a six-month span, are examined in terms of the young narrator's ability to organize the story around an overall theme line, his/her capacity to evaluate the narrative and reach the audience, and his /he…
Stephen J. Caldas, Raising bilingual-biliterate children in monolingual cultures
Stephen J. Caldas, Raising bilingual-biliterate children in monolingual cultures. Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters, 2006. Pp. xvi, 231. Pb. $39.95. This is the fascinating story of the author's own family project of raising his three children French-English bilingually in English-speaking Louisiana. Caldas, a French-English bilingual himself, and his bilingual French-Canadian wife artificially orchestrate and manipulate the children's environme…
Pragmatic differentiation in early trilingual development
This study examines pragmatic differentiation in early trilingual development through a longitudinal analysis of language choice in a developing Tagalog–Spanish–English trilingual child. The child's patterns of language choice with different language users are analyzed at age 1 ; 10 and 2 ; 4 to examine: (1) whether evidence for pragmatic differentiation can be found even before age two and in simultaneous interactions with distinct language user…
Translation Equivalents and the Emergence of Multiple Lexicons in Early Trilingual Development
This study examines lexical differentiation in early trilingual development through an analysis of the translation equivalents (TEs) produced by a Tagalog—Spanish—English trilingual child. The child’s cumulative vocabulary between 1;4 and 2;0 was reconstructed through diary records and audio-recordings, and the extent to which phonetically distinct equivalent doublets and triplets were represented in her cumulative lexicon was examined. The resul…
Phonological differentiation before age two in a Tagalog–Spanish–English trilingual child
This study focuses on a trilingual toddler's ability to differentiate her Tagalog, Spanish and English productions on phonological/phonetic grounds. Working within the articulatory phonology framework, the word-initial segments produced by the child in Tagalog, Spanish and English words at age 1;10 were narrowly transcribed by two researchers and her accuracy levels in employing/reproducing the specific gestural properties of word-initial consona…
A case study of bi-literacy development among children enrolled in an Italian–English dual language program in Southern California
This study examines bi-literacy development among 60 children enrolled in an Italian–English dual language (DL) program in Southern California. Using a variety of measures including (1) oral reading fluency (ORF), (2) accuracy scores, and (3) standardized test for the assessment of reading (STAR) test's estimates of reading ability for English, the study investigates how Italian and English literacy skills emerged and developed among first-, seco…
Cross-linguistic interaction in trilingual phonological development: The role of the input in the acquisition of the voicing contrast
This paper examines the production of word-initial stops by two simultaneous trilingual sisters, aged 6;8 and 8;1, who receive regular input in Italian and English from multiple speakers, but in Spanish from only one person. The children's productions in each language were analyzed acoustically and compared to those of their main input providers. The results revealed consistent cross-linguistic differences by both children, including between Ital…
The Development of Writing Skills in an Italian-English Two-Way Immersion Program: Evidence from First Through Fifth Grade
This study examines the writing skills of students in grades 1 to 5 of an Italian-English two-way immersion program. Narrative writing samples were collected in both languages and scored for content, organization, grammar, mechanics, vocabulary, text length, and overall total score. The results show that writing skills improved as a function of grade. Although children from Italian-English bilingual homes obtained higher Italian scores than Engli…
Sammarinese, the Endangered Language of the Republic of San Marino: A Preliminary Study of Documentation and Description
This paper presents the results of a preliminary study of documentation and description of Sammarinese, a peripheral variety of Romagnol spoken in the Republic of San Marino. Despite having been the country’s primary oral language for almost 1,000 years, Sammarinese is on the verge of extinction today as universal education and economic development have caused language shift to Italian beginning from the 1960s. A corpus of primary oral language d…
A longitudinal investigation of language mixing in Spanish–English dual language learners: The role of language proficiency, variability, and sociolinguistic factors
This study examines language mixing in 26 Spanish–English dual language learners over the course of their first year of preschool. The children's patterns of language choice while interacting in monolingual language contexts were analyzed at age 3;6 and 4;5 to examine: (1) whether the frequency of language mixing changed during the year; (2) whether mixing was related to proficiency as measured by utterance length and lexical diversity; and (3) w…
Parental attitudes and activism reshape educational language policies: The surge of dual language programmes in California
While educational language policies have been shown to have a stronger influence on school-aged children’s multilingual outcomes than Family Language Policy, California provides an example of how parental motivation and activism can also have a profound impact on educational language policies. This paper has two goals: first, it provides an overview of the legislative changes that affected California’s educational system between the 1970s and the…
Maternal Cultural Orientation and Speech Sound Production in Spanish/English Dual Language Preschoolers
Empirical work has shown that maternal education is related to children's language outcomes, especially in the societal language, among Spanish-English bilingual children growing up in the U.S. However, no study thus far has assessed the links between maternal cultural orientation and children's speech sound production. This paper explores whether mothers' orientation to American (acculturation) and Mexican culture (enculturation) and overall lin…
Speech and language outcomes in low-SES Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers: The role of maternal education
This paper presents a longitudinal examination of Spanish and English phonological, lexical, and morpho-syntactic abilities in 20 low-SES bilingual preschoolers with mothers who had either completed primary or secondary education in Spanish in their country of origin, Mexico. We focused on the link between maternal education and the following spontaneous production measures: 1) phonological accuracy as measured by Percent of Consonants Correct-Re…
Student Stop Out and Retention at a Hispanic-Serving Institution in Southern California: The Role of Background, Academic, and Environmental Factors
This study explores the demographic/background, academic, and environmental factors that predicted student retention after stopping out at a large Hispanic-serving institution in Southern California. The results show that (a) gender, (b) academic background, experience, readiness, and performance, and (c) personal and financial issues predicted retention. We interpret these findings in the context of existing literature and provide suggestions to…
Parent-child interaction during storybook reading: Wordless narrative books versus books with text
This study examines the content and function of parent-child talk while engaging in shared storybook reading with two narrative books: a wordless book versus a book with text. Thirty-six parents audio-recorded themselves reading one of the books at home with their 3.5–5.5-year-old children. Pragmatic and linguistic measures of parental and child talk during both narrative storytelling and dialogic interactions were compared between the wordless a…
Stop voicing perception in the societal and heritage language of Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers: The role of age, input quantity and input diversity
Heritage language development in Spanish–English-speaking preschoolers: Influences on growth and challenges in the first year of English-only instruction
This study investigates the changes in the Spanish lexical and grammatical skills of 26 Spanish–English dual language learners during their first year of preschool. We also explore the impact of age, gender, and maternal cultural orientation on children’s language outcomes over time. The results show that, despite one year of English-only instruction, the children’s Spanish productions became more intelligible, lexically diverse, and grammatical …
Community language exposure affects voice onset time patterns in Spanish-English bilingual children and functional English monolingual children
This study examined English VOT productions by 37 Spanish-English bilingual children and 37 matched functional monolinguals, all aged 3–6 years, from the same Latinx community. It also assessed the bilinguals’ Spanish stop productions and investigated the effects of age and language exposure on their VOT productions. The results revealed credible between-group differences on English voiced, but not voiceless, stops, with shorter VOTs for bilingua…
Psychology (16 works) · Linguistics (15 works) · Language Development and Disorders (11 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (9 works) · Pedagogy (8 works) · Reading and Literacy Development (8 works) · Language development (7 works) · Developmental psychology (6 works) · Phonetics and Phonology Research (6 works) · Sociology (5 works)