Simona Montanari is a Professor in the Department of Child and Family Studies at California State University, Los Angeles. She received a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Southern California specializing on early trilingual development. Her research, funded by the National Institutes of Health, has focused on speech sound perception, production, vocabulary development, verbal morphology, narrative skills, and code-switching in Spanish-speaking children growing up bilingually or trilingually in the United States. Dr. Montanari has also been involved in the creation of an Italian/English dual language program in Los Angeles County and has been studying its educational outcomes since its launch in 2009. Dr. Montanari received CSULA prestigious Outstanding Professor Award in 2021.
SELECT PUBLICATIONS
Montanari, S., Simon-Cereijido, G., Bai, J., & Subrahmanyam, K. (under review). Heritage language development in Spanish-English preschoolers: Influences on growth and challenges in the first year of English-only instruction. Journal of Child Language.
Mayr, R., Morris, J., & Montanari, S. (2024). The phonetics and phonology of early bilinguals. In Amengual, M. (ed.), The Cambridge handbook of bilingual phonetics and phonology. Cambridge University Press.
Montanari, S., Steffman, J., & Mayr, R. (2023). Stop voicing perception in the societal and heritage language of Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers: The role of age, input quantity and input diversity. Journal of Phonetics. Published online 8 October 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2023.101276
*Petrie, A., Mayr. R., Zhao, F., & Montanari, S. (2023). Parent-child interaction during storybook reading: Wordless narrative books versus books with text. Journal of Child Language, 50(1), 104-131. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000921000763
Montanari, S., Steffman, J., & Mayr, R., Flores, P., & Feeney, C. (2023). Differential perception of vowel and stop contrasts in Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers. In R. Skarnitzl & J. Volín (eds.), Proceedings of the 20th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Prague, Czechia (pp. 66-70). Guarant International.
Montanari, S., Vogel, R., & Vasquez, M. (2023). Student stop out and retention: The role of background, academic, and environmental factors. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 22(3), 342-360. https://doi.org/10.1177/15381927221113736
Montanari, S., *Fischer, E., & *Aceves, D. (2022). Parental attitudes and activism reshape educational language policies: the surge of dual language programmes in California. International Journal of Multilingualism, 19(2), 190-209. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2021.2007251
Montanari, S., Mayr, R., & Subrahmanyam, K. (2022). Speech and language outcomes in low SES Spanish- English bilingual preschoolers: Effects of maternal education. The International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25(5), 1590-1609. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2020.1781780
Mayr. R., *Siddika, A., Morris, J., & Montanari, S. (2021). Bilingual phonological development across generations: Segmental accuracy and error patterns in second- and third-generation British Bengali children. Journal of Communication Disorders, 93(106140). Published online 4 July 2021. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcomdis.2021.106140
Montanari, S., Mayr, R., & Subrahmanyam, K. (2021). Maternal cultural orientation and speech sound production in Spanish/English dual language preschoolers. Languages, 6(2), 78. Published online 22 April 2021. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages6020078
Montanari, S. & Quay, S. (eds.). (2019). Multidisciplinary perspectives on multilingualism. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
Bartelheimer, L., Hufeisen, B. & Montanari. S. (2019). Multilingualism in Europe. In S. Montanari & S. Quay (eds.), Multidisciplinary perspectives on multilingualism (pp. 51-76). Berlin & New York: De Gruyter Mouton.
Montanari, S. (2019). Facilitated language learning in multilinguals. In S. Montanari & S. Quay (eds.), Multidisciplinary perspectives on multilingualism (pp. 299-324). Berlin & New York: De Gruyter Mouton.
Montanari, S., *Ochoa, W., & Subrahmanyam, K. (2019). A longitudinal investigation of language mixing in Spanish-English dual language learners: The role of language proficiency, variability, and socio- linguistic variables. Journal of Child Language, 46(5), 913-937.
Quay, S. & Montanari, S. (2018). Bilingualism and multilingualism. In A. De Houwer & L. Ortega (eds.), The Cambridge handbook of bilingualism and multilingualism (pp. 544-560). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Montanari, S., Mayr, R., & Subrahmanyam, K. (2018). Bilingual speech sound development during the preschool years: The role of language proficiency and cross-linguistic relatedness. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 61, 2467-2486.
Montanari, S. (2018). Sammarinese, the endangered language of the Republic of San Marino: A preliminary study of documentation and description. Dialectologia et Geolinguistica, 26, 57-95.
Montanari, S., Simón-Cereijido, G., & *Hartel, A. (2016). The development of writing skills in an Italian- English dual language program: Evidence from first through fifth grade. International Multilingual Research Journal, 10(1), 44-58.
Nicoladis, E., & Montanari, S. (eds.). (2016). Bilingualism across the lifespan: Factors moderating language proficiency. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association; Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
Quay, S., & Montanari, S. (2016). Early bilingualism: From differentiation to the impact of family language practices. In E. Nicoladis & S. Montanari (eds.), Bilingualism across the lifespan: Factors moderating language proficiency (pp. 23-42). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association; Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
Conboy, B., & Montanari, S. (2016). Early lexical development in bilingual infants and toddlers. In E. Nicoladis & S. Montanari (eds.), Bilingualism across the lifespan: Factors moderating language proficiency (pp. 63-80). Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association; Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.
Mayr, R. & Montanari, S. (2015). Cross-linguistic interaction in trilingual phonological development: The role of the input in the acquisition of the voicing contrast. Journal of Child Language, 42(5), 1006-1035.
Montanari, S. (2014). A case study of bi-literacy development among children enrolled in an Italian-English dual language program in Southern California. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 17(5), 509-525.
Montanari, S., Subrahmanyam, K., Zepeda, M., & *Rodriguez, C. (2014). The English phonological skills of Latino Spanish-English dual-language preschoolers living in Los Angeles: Implications for practice. In A. Enrique Arias, M. Gutiérrez, A. Landa, & F. Ocampo (eds.), Perspectives in the study of Spanish language variation. Papers in honor of Carmen Silva-Corvalán (pp. 465-498). Santiago de Compostela, Spain: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela Press.
Montanari, S. (2011). Italian immersion in Southern California: Challenges, benefits, and preliminary results. Educazione Interculturale [Intercultural Education], 9(3), 413-418.
Montanari, S. (2011). Phonological differentiation before age two in a Tagalog-Spanish-English trilingual child. International Journal of Multilingualism, 8(1), 5-21.
Montanari, S. (2010). Language differentiation in early trilingual development: Evidence from a case study. Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM Verlag Dr. Müller.
Montanari, S. (2010). Translation equivalents and the emergence of multiple lexicons in early trilingual development. First Language, 30(1), 102-125.
Montanari, S. (2009b). Multi-word combinations and the emergence of differentiated ordering patterns in early trilingual development. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12(4), 503-519.
Montanari, S. (2009a). Pragmatic differentiation in early trilingual development. Journal of Child Language, 36, 597-627.
Silva-Corvalán, C. S., & Montanari, S. (2008). Copula acquisition in Spanish-English dual language development. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11(3), 341-360.
Montanari, S. (2005). ‘I want to tell you the story but I don’t know what that’s called’: The narrative competence of Spanish-English bilingual children across their dominant and weaker language. In J. Cohen, K. McAlister, K. Rolstad, & J. MacSwan (Eds.), ISB4: Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Bilingualism (pp. 1645-1661). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Montanari, S. (2005). ‘Sol! Ganda, cute!’: A longitudinal study of language choice in a developing trilingual child.” In J. Cohen, K. McAlister, K. Rolstad, & J. MacSwan (Eds.), ISB4: Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Bilingualism (pp. 1662-1678). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Montanari, S. (2004). The development of narrative competence in the L1 and L2 of Spanish-English bilingual children. International Journal of Bilingualism, 8(4), 449-497.