Bilingualism & the brain Research Papers (original) (raw)

- by Mariko Nakayama
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- Psychology, Cognitive Science, Bilingualism & the brain, Linguistics

This paper explores the roles of both working memory (WM) and more traditional aptitude components, such as input processing and language analytic ability in the context of foreign language learning aptitude. More specifically, the paper compares two current perspectives on language aptitude: the Stages Approach (Skehan, 2016, 2019) and the P/E Model (Wen, 2016, 2019). Input processing and noticing, pattern identification and complexification, and feedback are examined as they relate to both perspectives and are then used to discuss existing aptitude testing, recent research, and broader theoretical issues. It is argued that WM and language aptitude play different but complementary roles at each of these stages, reflecting the various linguistic and psycholinguistic processes that are most prominent in other aspects of language learning. Overall, though both perspectives posit that WM and language aptitude have equal importance at the input processing stage, they exert greater influence at each of the remaining stages. More traditional views of aptitude dominate at the pattern identification and complexification stage and WM with the feedback stage.

Event related potentials (ERPs) have frequently been employed to investigate language comprehension. One of the best researched language-related ERP components is the N400, which is sensitive to various linguistic factors (e.g. plausibility, word frequency, predictability, word-level associations), and is therefore commonly referred to as an index of lexico-semantic memory. Systematic research into electrophysiological indexes of lexico-semantic processing in bilingualism and its comparison with existing monolingual research remains a crucial research avenue. The following review synthesizes the literature on the N400 effects observed in bilingual language comprehension studies in the context of selected models of bilingual lexico-semantic processing (i.e. RHM, BIA+), points to potential reasons behind some contradictory results, presents current trends in ERP bilingual research, identifies gaps in this area of research, and, finally, proposes future research directions.

The impact of bilingualism on lateralized brain functions such as praxis – the control of skilled actions – and language representations themselves, particularly in the auditory domain, is still largely unknown. Recent studies suggest that bilingualism affects both basic (fundamental frequency) sound and action-related speech processing. Whether it can impact non-verbal action sound processing is a question of debate. Here we examined twenty bilinguals using a dichotic listening paradigm, in which in addition to repeating the just heard action words, participants named – in Polish or English – one of two simultaneously presented tool sounds from attended ears. The results were compared with data from these same participants tested with reading the same words in a visual-half field paradigm. In contrast to typical outcomes from monolinguals, the laterality indices of action-related sound processing (verbal and non-verbal) were not left lateralized but hemispherically balanced. Notably, despite similar organization of tool- and action-word sound processing, their auditory (balanced) and visual-language (left-lateralized) representations might be independent because there were no significant correlations between any of their laterality indices. This indicates that bilingualism might involve reshuffling/reorganization of typically lateralized brain functions and such plasticity will have consequences for second language learning strategies, as well as for neurorehabilitation.

- by Michal Klichowski and +1
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- Second Language Acquisition, Auditory Perception, Bilingualism & the brain, Laterality

For over 100 years, researchers have wondered how two languages are coded in one brain. Classic studies in bilingual aphasia found that when a language is learned and how well it is spoken can account for the pattern of recovery in those who have suffered brain damage. Other case studies reported patients who appeared unable to control which language is being spoken. Hernandez uses these three factors (age of acquisition, language ability, and control) as guideposts in considering the neural bases of bilingualism. He covers each of these topics with respect to cognition, language, and bilingualism, allowing the reader to observe the links between general cognitive processing and the use of two languages. Hernandez ends by offering an integrated approach in which control, ability, and age all play a role in the way in which two languages are coded in one brain. The ability to learn two languages is a testament to our inherent talent in communicating with others. In this work, the reader will emerge with a broad understanding of this newly emerging field.

En esta obra se desarrolla una propuesta didáctica que consiste en la utilización de los álbumes ilustrados para la enseñanza bilingüe inglés/español. Se trata de un manual para la enseñanza conjunta de dos sistemas lingüísticos y culturales diferentes aplicada a las etapas de la Educación Infantil y Primaria y que se apoya en el trabajo con libros de las diversas disciplinas (Matemáticas, Ciencias, Lectura, etc.). Su metodología se basa en el empleo de los álbumes ilustrados como base para el crecimiento integral del alumno, con el fin de asentar su competencia bilingüe tanto oral como escrita desde las edades más tempranas. Las autoras son bilingües y han impartido docencia en Estados Unidos y Canadá, países pioneros en este tipo de enseñanza, y han aplicado las metodologías más difundidas en esos países a los distintos grados de la educación básica y media, lo que avala sus conocimientos para la implantación de esta metodología, tanto desde los estudios teóricos como en la práctica pedagógica.

- by Yannelys Aparicio Molina and +1
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- Education, Educational Research, Bilingualism & the brain, Storytelling

For a long time, one of my dreams was to describe the nature of uncertainty axiomatically, and it looks like I've finally done it in my co∼eventum mechanics! Now it remains for me to explain to everyone the co∼eventum mechanics in the most approachable way. This is what I'm trying to do in this work. The co∼eventum mechanics is another name for the co∼event theory, i.e., for the theory of experience and chance which I axiomatized in 2016 [1, 2]. In my opinion, this name best reflects the co∼event-based idea of the new dual theory of uncertainty, which combines the probability theory as a theory of chance, with its dual half, the believability theory as a theory of experience. In addition, I like this new name indicates a direct connection between the co∼event theory and quantum mechanics, which is intended for the physical explanation and description of the conict between quantum observers and quantum observations [4]. Since my theory of uncertainty satises the Kolmogorov axioms of probability theory, to explain this co∼eventum mechanics I will use a way analogous to the already tested one, which explains the theory of probability as a theory of chance describing the results of a random experiment. The simplest example of a random experiment in probability theory is the " tossing a coin ". Therefore, I decided to use this the simplest random experiment itself, as well as the two its analogies: the " "flipping a coin " and the " spinning a coin " to explain the co∼eventum mechanics, which describes the results of a combined experienced random experiment. I would like to resort to the usual for the probability theory " coin-based " analogy to explain (and first of all for myself) the logic of the co∼eventum mechanics as a logic of experience and chance. Of course, this analogy one may seem strange if not crazy. But I did not come up with a better way of tying the explanations of the logic of the co∼eventum mechanics to the coin-based explanations that are commonly used in probability theory to explain at least for myself the logic of the chance through a simple visual " coin-based " model that clarifies what occurs as a result of a combined experienced random experiment in which the experience of observer faces the chance of observation. I hope this analogy can be useful not only for me in understanding the co∼eventum mechanics.

Title: The cognitive benefits of bilingualism: what role does working memory play?
The idea that bilingualism may have positive cognitive effects has received a significant amount of attention in scientific literature as well as in the press. It is difficult, however, to specify exactly what those cognitive advantages are. There are studies that suggest that they involve only specific aspects of executive control. In this direction, a number of studies have focused on the possible roles of inhibition and " shifting ". Fewer studies, however, have focused on the involvement of working memory and how it can be influenced by the experience of processing more than one language. The present contribution falls within this line of research. We present the preliminary results of a study that compared the relative performance on executive function tasks in a group of monolingual and bilingual children growing up in Southern Italy, with a special emphasis on the role of working memory.

The influence of already learned languages on learning a new language has been a site of controversy; a huge number of scholars have asserted that learned languages affect learning a new language positively, and others have seen that learned languages cannot be a thing other than a negative influencer. The number of learned languages is also taken into consideration to be of additional complexity or simplicity on language learning. That is, the number of languages already learned inevitably determines the amount of complexity or simplicity learning a new language would have. The paper approaches the Moroccan case of monolingualism and bilingualism so as to come up with implications that can make clear the nature of bilingualism's influence on second language acquisition.

This is a discussion of the phenomenon of bilingualism and its implications on cognition. Monolingual and bilingual speakers follow the same general course of language acquisition and development – both groups learn phonemes and discover grammar, however,
experimental data indicate that the ways in which bilingual and monolingual acquisition and further linguistic development happen differ. The research challenge is to identify and interpret these differences.

The Cognate Triggering Hypothesis is investigated in this paper in order to demonstrate if cognates (words which have a phonological and lexical similarity among different languages) can trigger and facilitate codeswitching in bilingual speakers. Based on prior empirical research, the main theoretical question to be addressed in this paper is if the cognate triggering hypothesis, originally proposed by Clyne (2003) is a valid construct for bilinguals and code-switching. The experiment utilizes a self-paced reading and picture naming sentence completion task in which
Spanish-English highly-proficient bilinguals are asked to name pictures in either Spanish or English while trying to use both languages equally, so that the participants were free to switch when wanted. The participants reading times, language of response and response times demonstrate that the participants did not read cognate triggers significantly faster than noncognates and that there was not a larger preference to switch after processing a cognate than a non-cognate; furthermore, there were language-switching costs found in this experiment. This study concludes that the predictions of the Cognate Triggering Hypothesis are not met in this
experiment, suggesting that cognates do not seem to trigger or facilitate code-switching.

- by Thomas A Whatley III
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- Bilingualism & the brain, Psycholinguistics, Code-Switching, Linguistics

A sociolinguistics report of how the use of kinship terms for pronouns in Vietnamese language may affect the way people of different ages building relationships when speaking Vietnamese, compared to English speakers. Including results of a small survey to bilingual Vietnamese/English speakers, in an attempt to discover whether their change in language affects their perception of relationships – and how aware they are of this effect.

- by Seb Rumsby
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- Sociolinguistics, Bilingualism & the brain, Vietnam, Vietnamese Language

Based on this multilateral perspective on migrants’ languages and identities, this special issue addresses the following questions:  Sociolinguistic portraits: who transmits or does not transmit their languages to the second generation? How Russian and other post-Soviet heritage languages are perceived?  Social visibility of languages: how are these languages included in different spheres of language use (linguistic landscape)?  Cognition and attitudes: what do post-Soviet immigrants and repatriates believe about their heritage languages and how do their beliefs influence their vitality?  Cognition, society and language system: how do all these sociolinguistic and cognitive processes influence the transformation of the language systems of Russian and other post-Soviet languages as heritage languages in constellation with their contact languages?

- by Anastassia Zabrodskaja
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- Languages, European History, Russian Studies, Languages and Linguistics

I conducted research on my speciality on the thesis " Translation in modern times and its features" and actively participated in scientific seminars organized by the Student Scientific Society. During that time, I gained both theoretical and practical knowledge about writing a scientific article, speaking at a scientific conference and addressing a big audience on the I belief possess. On the other hand, I got a " Certificate of Appreciation " by the Recor of LSU, for my active participation in online scientific seminars in accordance with " Implementation Plan in the Pandemic Period" of the Student Scientific Society for the 2020-2021 academic year.

This article examines the perceived effectiveness of multilingual upbringing strategies and ways of communication adopted by families where the parents are of two different nationalities. The theoretical introduction presents an overview of the most important issues related to the linguistic development in bi-/multilingual children, debunking common myths and misconceptions surrounding the notions of bi-/multilingualism. The empirical part analyses the results of a survey conducted among parents who raise their children multilingually, looking at the strategies of communication adopted, the perceived effectiveness thereof, and whether the respondents would have changed or improved anything if they had been given a ‘second chance’. The results show that the most frequently implemented method is the one parent-one language approach, whose usefulness the majority assessed positively. Other practical conclusions concerning multilingual upbringing are also drawn.

- by Nurfaidah Lestari
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- Education, Bilingualism & the brain, Bilingualism and cognition, Bilingualism

The BILIUM project was initiated in August 2012 for the purpose of exploring the basis for creating an education module and possibly a curriculum for pedagogic professionals
working with bilingual children at pre-school in transition to primary school. These include pedagogic staff in local authority schools, kindergartens and supplementary heritage language schools, and also freelance pedagogues working with children in the field of language development.
The project is considered necessary in order to improve the competitiveness of the education sector of Germany and other European Countries and to achieve the goals of the EU on
language diversity, as well as to overcome the generation gap. We need to support children’s language development and the qualifications of people working with them, irrespective of
whether they are natives or migrants. The challenge for the future is to re-organise work programmes in kindergartens with regards to what effect the special communication and
interaction needs of bilinguals have on the professional education of staff, and to change organisations’ attitudes to IVT and VET programmes. Therefore, the project will create a
competence programme for the purpose of increasing the willingness for cross-cultural learning.
The project seeks to embed the topic of bilingualism and the development of skills and competences in vocational and professional education. Methods and didactic techniques
will be extracted from various approaches in order to improve the qualifications and career development of pedagogic staff in their professional duties and to support their employers
in assisting them by using what has been learned.
Multilingual ability is becoming increasingly a key skill in terms of personal development opportunities, inter-cultural understanding and the global consciousness of people in Europe and throughout the world. The process of the socialisation of young children is traditionally associated with the system of pre-school education. Developing the child’s individual characteristics should involve preparing him or her for the demands of a dynamic, globalised world.

- by Katja Ivash and +4
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- Multilingualism, Multi- & Bilingualism & Biliteracy, Bilingualism & the brain, Bilingual Education

Spanish and English have fought a centuries-long battle for linguistic dominance in the Southwest North American Region. Covering the time period of 1540 to the present, Hegemonies of Language and Their Discontents provides a deep and broad understanding of the contradictory methods of establishing language supremacy in this U.S.-Mexico transborder region and the manner in which those affected have responded and a cted, oThe book details the linguistic and cultural processes used by penetrating imperial and national states. The work argues that these impositions have been not linear but hydra-headed, complex and contradictory, sometimes accommodated and sometimes forcefully imposed. Such impositions have created discontent resulting in physical and linguistic revolts, translanguage versions, and multilayered capacities of use and misuse of imposed languages—even the invention of community-created trilingual dictionaries. The narrative is supported by multiple sources, including original Spanish colonial documents and new and original ethnographic studies of performance rituals like the matachines of New Mexico. This unique work discusses the most recent neurobiological studies of bilingualism and their implications for cognitive development and language as it spans multiple disciplines. Finally, it provides the most important models for dual language development and their integration to the "Funds of Knowledge" concept as creative contemporary discontents with monolingual approaches.

- by Mohsen Akbari
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- Bilingualism & the brain, Aphasia, Bilingualism and cognition, Bilingualism
- by Maria Kager
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- Irish Studies, Comparative Literature, English Literature, Irish Literature

This paper challenges the characterization of bilingual behavior derived from the code-switching model, and especially the notion of linguistic independence on which psychological studies of bilingualism have focused almost exclusively. While linguists have concentrated on the situational determinants of code-switching, psychologists have focused on the bilingual's ability to keep his two language systems separate. In the process, the phenomenon of code mixing, that is, switching between languages in an unchanged speech situation and within a single sentence, has been neglected. However, recent linguistic studies have shown that the use of both languages in the same discourse and even within a single sentence is quite common. Such code-mixing has been shown to be an effective, versatile communicative strategy, subject to a number of interlingual syntactic constraints. Discussion focuses on some of these constraints, showing that they have implications for a psychological model of bilingual information processing. Emphasis is placed on: (1) their relevance to issues such as the single versus separate storage hypothesis, (2) the language switch model and models of sentence production, (3) the psychological reality of syntactic constituents, and (4) the relationship between language units and thought units.

- by S. N. Sridhar
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- Psychology, Cognitive Psychology, Cognitive Science, Experimental Psychology
- by Cristina Sanz and +2
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- Second Language Acquisition, Bilingualism & the brain, Neurolinguistics, Cognitive Neuroscience

Several indicators seem to suggest that, through nearly six decades of development, Cognitive Translation Studies (CTS) may be taking shape as an autonomous field of study. The main challenges ahead seem to be building sounder theoretical models and carrying out more rigorous methodological scrutiny. These two strands converge as central themes in the 11 contributions to this special issue of LANS-TTS. To provide a context for theoretical modelling and to frame critical discussions of the methods included in this volume, we first trace the present landscape of CTS and how it evolved so as to test Holmes’ criteria for disciplines: founding new channels of communication and sharing a “disciplinary utopia”. The contributions are arranged into four thematic categories as applied to CTS, namely, scientometrics, framing or reframing our field, the reliability and validity of popular research methods, and new methods or novel approaches. This article closes with a call to reflect on some f...

- by Kairong Xiao
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- Communication, Translation Studies, Bilingualism & the brain, Psycholinguistics

Classic linguistic models, such as Chomsky's minimalist schematization of the human language faculty, were typically based on a 'monolingual ideal'. More recently, models have been extended to bilingual cognition. For instance, MacSwan (2000) posited that bilingual individuals possess a single syntactic computational system and, crucially, two phonological systems. The current paper examines this possible architecture of the bilingual language faculty by utilizing code-switching data. Specifically, the natural speech of Maria, a habitual Spanish-English code-switcher from the Bangor Miami Corpus, was examined. For the interface of phonology, an analysis was completed on the frequency of syllabic structures used by Maria. Phonotactics were examined as the (unilingual) phonological systems of Spanish and English impose differential restrictions on the legality of complex onsets and codas. The results indicated that Maria's language of use impacted the phonotactics of her speech, but that the context of use (unilingual or code-switched) did not. This suggests that Maria was alternating between encapsulated phonological systems when she was code-switching. For the interface of morphosyntax, syntactic dependencies within Maria's code-switched speech and past literature were examined. The evidence illustrates that syntactic dependencies are indeed established within code-switched sentences, indicating that such constructions are derived from a single syntactic subset. Thus, the quantitative and qualitative results from this paper wholly support MacSwan's original conjectures regarding the bilingual language faculty: bilingual cognition appears to be composed of a single computational system which builds multi-language syntactic structures, and more than one phonological system.

In this paper, I argue that current approaches to modeling of concepts in bilingual memory privilege word representation at the expense of concept representation. I identify four problems with the study of concepts in bilingual memory: con¯ation of semantic and conceptual levels of representation; scarcity of methods targeting conceptual representation; assumption of the static nature of the conceptual store; and insuf®cient acknowledgment of linguistic and cultural speci®city of concepts. Basing my arguments on recent developments in the ®elds of neurolinguistics, linguistics, psychology, linguistic anthropology, and second language acquisition, I suggest new approaches to the study of concepts in bilingualism, based on notions of concept comparability and concept encoding. Subsequently, I discuss various ways in which concepts could develop and interact with each other in bilingual memory and address possible individual, psycholinguistic, and sociolinguistic constraints on conceptual representation and interaction in bilingual memory.

The acceptability judgment task is a crucial method in experimental syntax. This study compares two forms of the task –Likert-scale and magnitude estimations – in the investigation of the learnability of the English resultative construction for bilinguals of Brazilian Portuguese and English. The resultative poses a challenge for this population, as not only must they learn the syntax-semantics mapping unlicensed in their L1, but they must learn event structure constraints that govern such construction in the L2. The results indicate that while both controlled acceptability judgment tasks attest the learnability of the construction, the alleged superiority of magnitude estimations was not verified.

Abstract: Bilingualism is expressed by scientists as the ability to use two languages at the same time (writing or speaking). The question 'What individual profits does bilingualism provide?' is the essance of this research. In order to answer this question, a literature review was conducted on the field and an answer was tried to be found. Therefore, this study was carried out based on the data obtained from the literature review. In this respect, the current research is a qualitative research. Attention is drawn to the fact that childhood bilingualism is more robust and stable than adult bilingualism in terms of using the four abilities (decoding: hearing and reading; encoding: writing and speaking). This academic study revealed that Bilingualism at the individual level provides good cognitive development. Again, It has been understood that it is possible to talk about the benefits such as better understanding and solving mathematical problems and performing more complicated tasks; being faster and sharper in processing the outside world; having a better concrete and abstract thinking ability; better logical inference; focusing and solving problems; having better recall power; having the ability to learn other languages more easily...etc. On the other hand, the rapidly developing fMR technology (brain film) recently provides us with tremendous evidence of the brain benefits of Bilingualism.

- by Kendra Hendrick
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- Bilingualism & the brain

This Ph.D. dissertation addresses possible bilingualism effects on speakers’ linguistic processing and representation through a psycholinguistic methodology. Our primary focus is the analysis of how bilingualism can influence bilinguals’ first language (L1), but we also investigate possible phenomena present in the acquisition of a second language (L2)-specific structure. More specifically, the research objectives are (i) to verify whether bilinguals exhibit reduced processing cost to read an L2-specific construction in the L1, (ii) to analyze whether these bilinguals accept this construction in their L1 and (iii) to investigate if bilinguals learn both the licensed and the unlicensed features of this construction in the L2. The participants are highly proficient Brazilian Portuguese (BP)-English bilinguals immersed either in the L1 or in the L2. The target structure is the resultative construction (e.g., Samuel wiped the table clean) and our control structure is the depictive construction (e.g., Samuel ate the salmon raw). Both constructions are grammatical in English, but only the depictive is licensed in BP. Furthermore, we observe how the participants process and perceive some ungrammatical resultative sentences (e.g., Samuel twisted the toy broken) in English. In order to reach the research objectives, we conducted a series of experiments using the Maze Task (MT) and the Acceptability Judgment Task (AJT) paradigms in both BP and English. The results from the experiments in BP indicate that both immersed and non-immersed bilinguals process the adjective in the resultative construction significantly faster than BP monolinguals. However, bilinguals and monolinguals perceived the resultative construction as less acceptable than the depictive construction. These results suggest that bilingualism can exert influence on L1 linguistic processing, but such influence does not result in changes in bilinguals’ overall L1 grammar, at least in regards to the constructions under scrutiny. The data from the experiments in English indicates that bilinguals and monolinguals process the resultative construction as fast as they process the depictive construction. They also show an additional processing cost when reading the ungrammatical resultative sentences. Moreover, bilinguals and monolinguals do not differ significantly from each other in their acceptability judgments of the resultative sentences in English, but bilinguals give significantly higher acceptability ratings to the ungrammatical resultative sentences as compared to monolinguals. These results suggest that bilinguals can learn L2-specific constructions, but they are less sensitive to L2-specific restrictions than monolinguals are. We discuss all these findings in light of different theoretical perspectives, among which we highlight the Multi-Competence, the Multiple-Grammars and the Negative Evidence hypotheses.

- by Alejandro Cuza
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- Cognitive Science, Bilingualism & the brain, Linguistics, Bilingualism

This study focuses on the issue of language proficiency attainment among young heritage speakers of Russian living in Spain and examines factors that have been claimed to promote heritage language proficiency, namely, age, gender, age of onset to L2, quantity of exposure and family language use. A group of 30 Russian-Spanish-Catalan trilingual children aged 7-11 participated in the study. In order to measure heritage language proficiency (L1 Russian), oral narratives were elicited. The results demonstrated a significant relationship between L1 proficiency and three sociolinguistic variables (age of onset to L2, quantity of exposure and family language use). Additionally, the multiply regression model demonstrated that the only significant variable affecting language proficiency was family language use and it accounted only for 33% of the variation of children's language proficiency. The study raises the question about what are the other, yet unknown factors, which can affect heritage language proficiency.