compound bilingualism

A term used by some linguists in the early classification of bilingualism. Compound bilinguals (or simultaneous bilinguals) were thought to be those who learn their languages in a single environment and develop a single mental representation for both. They attribute identical MEANINGS to corresponding LEXICAL UNITS in the two languages (e.g. dog in English and chien in French are simply two words for the same concept). The notion was contrasted with CO-ORDINATE bilingualism, where there is no such identity. The distinction is now thought to be an oversimplification of a situation in which most bilinguals seem to fall between the two types.