Language selection in bilingual word production: Electrophysiological evidence for cross-language competition

Cognate facilitation and cognate interference in word production have been elicited separately, in different paradigms. In our experiment, we created conditions for facilitation and interference to occur sequentially, and identified the levels at which the two processes manifested. Bilinguals translated cognates and noncognates from L2 to L1 and typed the translations. Response-onset latencies were shorter for cognates (cognate-facilitation) but execution latencies were longer, and cross-language orthographic errors were more frequent for cognates than for noncognates (cognate-interference). Facilitation at onset followed by interference during word execution suggests that the language-selection mechanism operated efficiently at the lexical level but inefficiently at the sublexical level. It also suggests that language selection is not an event with irreversible outcome, but selection at one level may not guarantee language-selectivity at subsequent levels. We propose that a model of bilingual language production that specifies multiple language-selection processes at multiple loci of selection can accommodate this phenomenon.

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Examining the effectiveness of language-switching practice for reducing cross-language competition in L2 grammatical processing

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728920000218 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 167-184 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kevin McManus

Keyword(s):

Linguistic Knowledge ◽

Language Switching ◽

Language Competition ◽

Language Selection ◽

L2 Learning ◽

Viewpoint Aspect ◽

English Speaking ◽

Crosslinguistic Influence ◽

Cross Language ◽

L1 And L2

AbstractThis study examined the extent to which language-switching practice enhanced L2 learners’ L2 grammatical processing by improving language selection abilities. Thirty-six English-speaking learners of French completed the same language-switching practice of L1 and L2 sentences, but received different types of pre-practice explicit information (EI) designed to address L2 learning difficulties resulting from crosslinguistic influence: one group (n = 17) received EI about English–French differences for viewpoint aspect, and a second group (n = 19) received EI about viewpoint aspect in French only. This design investigated the extent to which pre-practice linguistic knowledge moderated the effectiveness of the language-switching practice. Longitudinal analyses showed that increasing amounts of practice improved language selection abilities (increased accuracy, reduced reaction time costs), but only for learners who received EI about L1-L2 differences. These findings that language-switching was moderated by type of pre-practice EI have important implications for theories of L2 learning and instruction.

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Examining the effectiveness of language-switching practice for reducing cross-language competition in L2 grammatical processing

10.31219/osf.io/bv2yx ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Kevin McManus

Keyword(s):

Linguistic Knowledge ◽

Language Switching ◽

Language Competition ◽

Language Selection ◽

L2 Learning ◽

Viewpoint Aspect ◽

English Speaking ◽

Crosslinguistic Influence ◽

Cross Language ◽

L1 And L2

This study examined the extent to which language-switching practice enhanced L2 learners’ L2 grammatical processing by improving language selection abilities. Thirty-six English-speaking learners of French completed the same language-switching practice of L1 and L2 sentences, but received different types of pre-practice explicit information (EI) designed to address L2 learning difficulties resulting from crosslinguistic influence: one group (n = 17) received EI about English-French differences for viewpoint aspect, and a second group (n = 19) received EI about viewpoint aspect in French only. This design investigated the extent to which pre-practice linguistic knowledge moderated the effectiveness of the language-switching practice. Longitudinal analyses showed that increasing amounts of practice improved language selection abilities (increased accuracy, reduced reaction time costs), but only for learners who received EI about L1-L2 differences. These findings that language-switching was moderated by type of pre-practice EI have important implications for theories of L2 learning and instruction

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Electrophysiological evidence for cross-language interference in foreign-language attrition

Neuropsychologia ◽

10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2021.107795 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 155 ◽

pp. 107795

Author(s):

Anne Mickan ◽

James M. McQueen ◽

Beatrice Valentini ◽

Vitoria Piai ◽

Kristin Lemhöfer

Keyword(s):

Foreign Language ◽

Language Attrition ◽

Electrophysiological Evidence ◽

Cross Language

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Spoken word processing in bilingual older adults

Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism ◽

10.1075/lab.18028.tit ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Debra Titone ◽

Julie Mercier ◽

Aruna Sudarshan ◽

Irina Pivneva ◽

Jason Gullifer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Word Recognition ◽

Word Processing ◽

Spoken Word Recognition ◽

Spoken Word ◽

Target Language ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Age Related ◽

Language Competition ◽

Cross Language

Abstract We investigated whether bilingual older adults experience within- and cross-language competition during spoken word recognition similarly to younger adults matched on age of second language (L2) acquisition, objective and subjective L2 proficiency, and current L2 exposure. In a visual world eye-tracking paradigm, older and younger adults, who were French-dominant or English-dominant English-French bilinguals, listened to English words, and looked at pictures including the target (field), a within-language competitor (feet) or cross-language (French) competitor (fille, “girl”), and unrelated filler pictures while their eye movements were monitored. Older adults showed evidence of greater within-language competition as a function of increased target and competitor phonological overlap. There was some evidence of age-related differences in cross-language competition, however, it was quite small overall and varied as a function of target language proficiency. These results suggest that greater within- and possibly cross-language lexical competition during spoken word recognition may underlie some of the communication difficulties encountered by healthy bilingual older adults.

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Electrophysiological evidence for the time course of syllabic and sub-syllabic encoding in Cantonese spoken word production

Language Cognition and Neuroscience ◽

10.1080/23273798.2018.1562559 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 34 (6) ◽

pp. 677-688 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Andus Wing-Kuen Wong ◽

Ho-Ching Chiu ◽

Jie Wang ◽

Siu-San Wong ◽

Hsuan-Chih Chen

Keyword(s):

Time Course ◽

Spoken Word ◽

Word Production ◽

Spoken Word Production ◽

Electrophysiological Evidence

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Using Eye-Movements to Track Bilingual Activation

Languages ◽

10.3390/languages4030059 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 59

Author(s):

María Teresa Martínez-García

Keyword(s):

Time Course ◽

English Word ◽

Stress Pattern ◽

Lexical Representations ◽

Spanish Speaking ◽

Language Competition ◽

L2 Learners ◽

English Speaking ◽

Cross Language ◽

Mismatch Condition

Recent research found that the languages of bilingual listeners are active and interact, such that both lexical representations are activated by the spoken input with which they are compatible. However, the time course of bilingual activation and whether suprasegmental information further modulates this cross-language competition are still not well understood. This study investigates the effect of stress placement on the processing of English–Spanish cognates by beginner-to-intermediate Spanish-speaking second-language (L2) learners of English and intermediate-to-advanced English-speaking L2 learners of Spanish using the visual-world eye-tracking paradigm. In each trial, participants saw a target (asado, ‘roast’), one of two competitors (stress match: asados, ‘roast (pl)’; stress mismatch: asador, ‘rotisserie’), and two unrelated distracters, while hearing the target word. The experiment included a non-cognate condition (asado-asados-asador) and a cognate condition, where the stress pattern of the English word corresponding to the Spanish competitor in the stress-mismatch condition (inventor) instead matched that of the Spanish target (invento, ‘invent’). Growth-curve analyses revealed cognate-status and stress-mismatch effects for Spanish-speaking L2 learners of English, and cognate-status and stress-mismatch effects, and an interaction for English-speaking L2 learners of Spanish. This suggests that both groups use stress for word recognition, but the English stress pattern only affects the processing of Spanish words in the English-speaking L2 learners of Spanish.

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Trilinguals’ language switching: A strategic and flexible account

Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology ◽

10.1177/1747021818763537 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 72 (4) ◽

pp. 693-716 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Michela Mosca

Keyword(s):

Language Proficiency ◽

Language Switching ◽

Switching Performance ◽

Controlling System ◽

Activation Level ◽

Co Activation ◽

Language Competition ◽

Language Selection

The goal of this study was to determine how trilinguals select the language they intend to use in a language switching context. Two accounts are examined: (a) a language-specific account, according to which language selection considers the activation level of words of the intended language only (i.e., language co-activation without language competition), and (b) a language non-specific account, where activated words from both the intended and non-intended languages compete for selection (i.e., language co-activation with language competition). Results showed that, in both groups, all three languages competed for selection and that selection was achieved by inhibiting the currently non-relevant languages. Moreover, extending findings from previous research, the study reveals that, in both Experiments 1 and 2, the amount of inhibition was influenced not only by language proficiency but also by the typological similarity between languages. Overall, the study shows that language switching performance can be accounted for by a strategic and flexible inhibitory account. In particular, the controlling system is “strategic” in the sense that it aims at preventing potential conflicting situations, such as typological closeness between languages, and it is “flexible” in that it adjusts languages’ activation levels, depending on the conflict to be solved.

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Individual differences in inhibitory control relate to bilingual spoken word processing

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728913000084 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 89-117 ◽

Cited By ~ 51

Author(s):

JULIE MERCIER ◽

IRINA PIVNEVA ◽

DEBRA TITONE

Keyword(s):

Individual Differences ◽

Eye Movements ◽

Inhibitory Control ◽

Word Processing ◽

Spoken Word Recognition ◽

Spoken Word ◽

Control Measures ◽

Language Competition ◽

Spoken Word Processing ◽

Cross Language

We investigated whether individual differences in inhibitory control relate to bilingual spoken word recognition. While their eye movements were monitored, native English and native French English–French bilinguals listened to English words (e.g., field) and looked at pictures corresponding to the target, a within-language competitor (feet), a French cross-language competitor (fille “girl”), or both, and unrelated filler pictures. We derived cognitive and oculomotor inhibitory control measures from a battery of inhibitory control tasks. Increased cognitive inhibitory control was linked to less within-language competition for all bilinguals, and less cross-language competition for native French low-English-exposure bilinguals. Increased oculomotor inhibitory control was linked to less within-language competition for all native French bilinguals, and less cross-language competition for native French low-English-exposure bilinguals. The results extend previous findings (Blumenfeld & Marian, 2011), and suggest that individual differences in inhibitory control relate to bilingual spoken word processing.

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The Status of English in Language Policy Models Proposed for the Moroccan Multilingual Context

10.31219/osf.io/5p6hp ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Arab World English Journal ◽

Khalid Shahu

Keyword(s):

Language Policy ◽

Science And Technology ◽

Detailed Account ◽

Multidimensional Model ◽

Policy Model ◽

Language Competition ◽

Language Selection ◽

Policy Models ◽

The Status ◽

Language Conflict

This paper suggests a language policy model for Modern Morocco, which can respond to both, the national needs of identity and the demands of Globalization, These two needs are the two major forces that shape the status of the various languages involved in the Moroccan sociolinguistic context, including English. The paper concisely describes how different sociolinguistic phenomenon produced by the ex-colonial powers shape the status of the different languages involved in the Moroccan multilingual context (i.e. language conflict, language competition, language selection and linguistic militantism). It also gives a detailed account of the different approaches and language policy models proposed by various Moroccan intellectuals and linguists in order to face such a de facto multilingualism. Finally, it proposes a multidimensional model that may contribute to reducing tensional relations between the different linguistic varieties cohabiting in Morocco, meeting the requirements of the Moroccan identity, and responding to the needs of modernity, prosperity, science and technology imposed by globalization.

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