week 10 - language - bilinguals Flashcards
bilingualism
background
the default state in the global context
over 50% of the world
- most are naturalistic child bilinguals
bilingualism
the norm?
yes
many people speak more than one language
(tucker 1999)
bilingualism
what
an individual who has the mental representation (knowledge) of more than one language for the purpose of understanding and/or speaking these languages
bilingualism
variation?
lots of room for variation
- native biliguals are those that have two native languages
- some are more proficient in the L2 than L1
- some become bilingual later in life (after age 4 considered 2nd language learner)
bilingual language acquisition
contexts of childhood bilingualism
simultaneous
sequential
bilingual language acquisition
simultaneous acquisition
both languages acquired at the same time
bilingual language acquisition
sequential acquisition
the second language is learned after a 1st language
when the L2 is acquired is important
- early vs late learning (johnson and newport)
bilingual language acquisition
frequency of usage of both languages
how often and what context
use it or lose it
- language attrition
bilingual language acquisition
mode of acquisition
native –> growing up in a two language environment
immersion –> schooling provided in a non-native language
submersion –> one learner surrounded by non-native speakers
bilingual language acquisition
language dominace effects
relative fluency of L1 and L2 may impact processing
how does the mind and brain accommodate the presence of two languages?
mental juggler
both languages are active regardless of the requirement to use one language alone
how does a bilingual select a given language to be used at any moment?
spoken language bilinguals cant turn off either language
dual language activation found in listening, speaking and reading tasks even in single language tasks where only one language is used
priming effect
monolingual study
cow door -> no priming effect
Dog Glid -> nonsense word
Dog Door -> priming effect
priming effect
bilingual study
dog pear -> priming effect
dog semantically related to spanish word perro
pear is phonologically related to perro
this is evidence that bilingual lexicons are not separate
how does the brain accommodate the presence of two languages
both of bilinguals languages are active even when only using one
parallel activity of the two languages is thought to produce competition
skilled bilinguals rarely make of error of speaking the wrong language
- yet they often code switch with other similar bilinguals in the middle of a sentence, suggesting that they possess an exquisite mechanism of cognitive control
bilingual language use
how is cross language competition in speech planning resolved
two general alternatives:
1) bilinguals develop skills in selecting attending to the critical information that signals language status
2) bilinguals learn to inhibit irrelevant information once it has been activated
either results in brain adaptations
either results in positive cognitive consequences
bilinguals brain adaptations
the brains executive functions
activation, focus, effort, emotions, memory, action
cognitive benefits to executive functions and attention enable bilinguals to
- ignore irrelevant info
- resolve conflict among competing alternatives
- minimise costs associated with task switching
- measurable increase in creativity areas of the brain
bilinguals brain adaptations
development of executive functions
last area (frontal lobe) of brain to develop
last cognitive skills to develop in childhood, first to decline in ageing
children typically develop control over attention and inhibition at about 5 years
experience in managing two language may promote this development
bilinguals brain adaptations
stoop task
colours vs names of colours task
shows a bilingual advantage and bilingual ageing advantage
bilinguals brain adaptations
always helpful?
not always helpful
- lexical retrieval
Boston picture naming and letter/category fluency task
- name words that begin with F
- name words in the category of animals
bilinguals consistently slowing in retrieving word/fluency
–> More words to choose from
bilinguals brain adaptations
later in life
bilingualism delays ages of onset dementia, independent of education and immigration status
2007: bilingualism delays the onset of alzheimers-type dementia by 4 years
2013: bilingualism delays the onset of alzheimers type dementia by 4-5 years
bilingualism may provide protection to the brain
bilinguals brain adaptations
the simon task
same idea as stoop task
congruent trials (same button as side)
incongruent trials (opposite button as side)
bilinguals brain adaptations
the simon task
why is there a bilingual advantage?
magnitide of the simon effect by decade:
how much do individuals suffer the consequences of incongruity
hypothesis: the bilingual advantage arises from a life of resolving competition across the two languages
why bilingual cognitive advantage?
parallel activation of both languages
constant interference
need to manage and monitor the two language systems
Exercising language control improves performance in….
non verbal control
the bilingual brain structural vs functional factors:
does the bilingual brain have a different neural organisation from the monolingual brain
executive functions advantage - Flanker task
congruent (-> -> ->) incongruent (<-<–><-<-<-)
bilinguals have been found to have reduced in-congruency effect
(costa, 2008 and zhout+kroft, 2016)
the bilingual brain structural vs functional factors:
functional organisation
similar performance but less effort?
(abutalebi,2012)
bilinguals activated a lesser protion of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)
- a region involved in conflict monitoring
(than monolinguals to complete a flanker task)
the bilingual brain structural vs functional factors:
grey matter
mechlli 2004
bilinguals greater GM volume than monolinguals in IPL
within bilinguals, GM volume in IPL correlates with:
- proficiency in L2
- age of acquisition
the bilingual brain structural vs functional factors:
specific language experience affect region …
differently
bimodal bilinguals
a signed and a spoken language
two linguistic output channels:
- vocal articulation
- manual articulation
unimodal bilinguals
two spoken languages
one linguistic output channel:
- vocal articulation
bimodal bilinguals
example
bimodal bilinguals produce americal sign language signs when talking to a non signer
- 9 out of 13 bilinguals (codas) produced at least one ASL sign
- bilinguals produced an average of 4 signs
(casey and emmory 2006)
bimodal bilinguals
conclusion
inhibition is less necessary when the languages do not compete for the articulators
bimodal bilinguals
flanker task
non evidence that bimodal bilinguals are better at tasks requiring inhibition
summary for bilingualism and the brain
bilingualism is a ….
pervasive and multidimensional experience that includes functional usage (how much) and proficiency ( how well)
summary for bilingualism and the brain
bilingual adaptations stem from …
controlling two different (spoken) languages in mind
summary for bilingualism and the brain
the same control may not be needed for …
bimodal (sign and spoken) bilinguals
adaptations in both brain and in cognitive functions
the cognitive consequences of bilingualism seen positive but limited to non-verbal tasks
summary for bilingualism and the brain
neural and cognitive adaptations to bilingualism (esp neural) likely calibrated to the …
extent / nature of experience
