Editing First language (section)

== Bilingualism ==
[[File:Int-mother-lang-day-monument.jpg|thumb|[[International Mother Language Day]] Monument in Sydney, Australia, unveiling ceremony, 21 February 2006]]A related concept is [[Multilingualism|bilingualism]]. One definition is that a person is bilingual if they are equally proficient in two languages. Someone who grows up speaking Spanish and then learns English for four years is bilingual only if they speak the two languages with equal fluency. Pearl and Lambert were the first to test only "balanced" bilinguals—that is, a child who is completely fluent in two languages and feels that neither is their "native" language because they grasp both so perfectly. This study found that

*balanced bilinguals perform significantly better in tasks that require flexibility (they constantly shift between the two known languages depending on the situation),
*they are more aware of the arbitrary nature of language,
*they choose word associations based on logical rather than phonetic preferences.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alsintl.com/blog/language-proficiency/|title=Language Proficiency: Defining Levels Avoids Confusion|date=26 August 2013|publisher=Alsintl.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130917082347/http://www.alsintl.com/blog/language-proficiency|archive-date=17 September 2013|url-status=live|access-date=13 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last1=Hakuta |first1=Kenji |title=The relationship between degree of bilingualism and cognitive ability: A critical discussion and some new longitudinal data |date=1985 |url=http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/khakuta/research/publications/(1985)%20-%20THE%20RELATIONSHIP%20BETWEEN%20DEGREE%20OF%20BILINGUALISM%20AND.pdf |work=Children's Language |volume=5 |pages=319–344  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131024165613/http://faculty.ucmerced.edu/khakuta/research/publications/(1985)%20-%20THE%20RELATIONSHIP%20BETWEEN%20DEGREE%20OF%20BILINGUALISM%20AND.pdf |access-date=21 October 2013 |archive-date=24 October 2013 |last2=Diaz |first2=Rafael M. |url-status=live}}</ref>