Bilingualism

Question 1

What is the traditional story in psycholinguistics?

Answer 1

• On this view, bilinguals have been considered a special group of language users, much like brain damaged patients, children with language disorders
• Learning two languages would be confusing
• Bilinguals should be “functionally monolingual” in two languages
• “equally fluent” “ambilingual” “equilingualism” “balanced bilingual”

Question 2

What are late bilinguals?

Answer 2

• learning the second language later than childhood
• “full native L1” “funky L2”
• Even highly successful late L2 learners speak with an accent and appear to fail to acquire subtle aspects of the L2 grammar
• after 7 years old

Question 3

What is the new attitude about bilingualism?

Answer 3

• There is greater plasticity than previously understood
• Language learning occurs at all ages and language processes are dynamic
• Bilingualism provides a lens for examining neurocognitive processes
• Bilingualism alters the structure and function of the mind
• Is convergence on the idea that bilingualism is a consequential life experience
• bilinguals are not two monolinguals in one
• “continuum” “daily lives with different proficiency levels” “coexistence of two languages”

Question 4

What percent of the world is bilingual?

Answer 4

• we don’t know
• Francois Grosjean says 50-70% so 60%

Question 5

What percent of people in Canada are bilingual?

Answer 5

• 18%

Question 6

What percent of people in Quebec are bilingual?

Answer 6

46.4%

Question 7

What percent of people in Montreal are bilingual?

Answer 7

69.8%

Question 8

What are three discoveries about bilingualism?

Answer 8

1. language coactivation
2. beyond language processing
3. individual differences

Question 9

What is language coactivation?

Answer 9

• Both languages are active and competing
• Joint activation of two language systems
• Both languages are active and interacting
• L1 effects L2 more, stronger than L2

Question 10

What are the experimental tasks to study language coactivation?

Answer 10

• lexical decision task
• picture naming task

Question 11

What are cognates?

Answer 11

• words in both languages that are the same
• facilitation
• faster doing task

Question 12

What are interlingual homographs?

Answer 12

• same words but different meanings
• interference
• greater comprehension difficulty

Question 13

Would the newly acquired L2 affect the L1?

Answer 13

• Examined cognate effects in monolinguals and L2 LEARNERS OF SPANISH
• behaviourally, no cognate effect
• but spanish beginning to influence english, changes in brain

Question 14

What is beyond language processing?

Answer 14

• Cognitive control
• the inhibitory control model

Question 15

What is inhibition?

Answer 15

• is triggered in the presence of competition
• is proportional to the level of coactivation
• the higher the level of activation of the non-target language, the more inhibition is required to reduce competition
• prevents intrusions from the non-used languages
• interference recognized by supervisory attentional system
• inhibitory system inhibits language you don’t want to use

Question 16

What is the asymmetrical switching cost?

Answer 16

• when switching from L1 to L2, faster reaction time
• harder to switch from L2 to L1
• more activation of L1 in brain
• L1 to L2 need more inhibition
• L2 to L1 need less inhibition

Question 17

What is domain specific language control?

Answer 17

• switching

Question 18

What is domain general cognitive control?

Answer 18

• stroop task
• flanker task
• simon task

Question 19

Bilingual advantage?

Answer 19

• Lifelong management of two languages –> Enhancements in LANGUAGE CONTROL –> Enhancements in DOMAIN-GENERAL CONTROL –> CHANGES IN THE BRAIN –> COGNITIVE RESERVE
• The conflict effect was significantly reduced only for bilinguals during the second session of the flanker task
• Spanish-English-speaking bilinguals exhibited greater bilateral frontal GMV compared with English-speaking monolinguals
• parts of the brain more active in bilinguals
• In bilinguals, the aging brain shows preservation of the posterior regions, and the connectivity
• reaction time for simon task does not get as much longer as monolinguals
• Bilinguals experienced onset symptoms and were diagnosed approximately 3 – 4 years later than the monolinguals

Question 20

What are individual differences?

Answer 20

• Not all bilinguals are the same
• Meta-analyses and systematic reviews found a bilingual/multilingual advantage
• Studies and meta-analyses have emerged questioning the differences
• Bilingual/multilingual advantage is modulated by the TASKS employed to assess executive functions
• Characteristics of the multilingual SPEAKERS and the CONTEXT

Question 21

What is the adaptive inhibition hypothesis?

Answer 21

— interactional context — cognitive processing <—> language processing — language experience —

Question 22

What is context?

Answer 22

• DUAL LANGUAGE CONTEXTS may be
  PARTICULARLY DEMANDING
• language control processes
• general cognitive control
• interactional cost (difference between competition and cooperation)
• in US need to monitor who speaks english vs spanish but in other places, don’t need to monitor

Question 23

What is language experience?

Answer 23

• MULTILINGUAL LANGUAGE EXPERIENCE AS A CONTINUUM
• L1/L2 age of acquisition — L1/L2proficiency —- social diversity of language use
• Language diversity across social contexts is central for regulating how languages are represented, accessed, and controlled, over and above basic measures such as L2 age of language acquisition, and self-reported ability in each language

Question 24

Summary

Answer 24

• Bilinguals are not two monolinguals in one. Both languages are active and competing. The two languages are not separate.
• The bilingual’s language system is permeable in both directions. Critically, the L1 changes in the response to learning. Bilingualism has consequences for both languages.
• There are effects on cognitive control. Brain and cognition are plastic.
• Not all bilinguals are the same. Language experiences are multifaceted. Bilinguals differ by virtue of the demands of the context and the experience.