International Journal of Bilingualism

Dvorak, Martin

doi: 10.1177/13670069241304353pmid: N/A

Aims and objectives:The paper describes a study whose objective was to find whether there are any differences in inhibitory control measured with the Stroop test between Swedish early childhood (EC) monolingual and EC (bi-) multilingual university students in the language which is not their EC language and whether one can observe a relationship between the perceived proficiency in the subjects’ mother tongues and their Stroop Effect.Methodology:The analyses were conducted on a cohort of 105 students (41 EC monolinguals and 64 EC multilinguals) who took the Stroop test, the results of which (Stroop Effect) were compared for both the groups. A comparison was also made for multilinguals’ perceived proficiency in their mother tongues.Data and analysis:The data obtained via questionnaires and from a computerized version of the Stroop test were compared for EC monolinguals/EC multilinguals and evaluated statistically.Findings/conclusion:The results show no statistically significant difference in the inhibitory control measured by the Stroop test between the EC monolinguals and EC multilinguals. The only significant difference the analysis found between the groups is in reaction times, as the EC multilinguals reacted faster in both congruent and incongruent conditions. The analysis conducted among the EC multilinguals does not indicate any relationship between the perceived proficiency in their mother tongues and Stroop effect.Originality and implication:The findings contribute to a recent debate questioning cognitive early adulthood advantages of being an EC multilingual. Unlike the majority of other studies investigating inhibitory control, the Stroop test in this study was conducted in young adults and in the language (learnt at school and through extracurricular activities) in which all the students were on approximately the same proficiency level. The findings also bear relevance to future research on the relationship between inhibitory control and academic performance in young adults.

Zhong, Zilong; Fan, Lin; Zhang, Xiaokun; Jiang, Jiaxing; Yang, Hui

doi: 10.1177/13670069241295465pmid: N/A

Aims and Objectives:The current study aimed to investigate whether there was inhibitory processing in code-switching during language comprehension among Chinese–English–Japanese trilinguals and whether n–2 language repetition costs were contingent upon particular stimulus–response configurations.Methodology:This experiment employed semantic categorization tasks, with non-cognate animal and non-animal words as experimental stimuli, and the n–2 language repetition costs as a discerning experimental indicator, to explore whether there was inhibitory processing in code-switching during language comprehension among Chinese–English–Japanese trilinguals. Furthermore, we investigated the impact of stimulus–response configuration on inhibitory processing during switching between phonetic and logographic writing systems. This approach allowed for a detailed exploration of the cognitive mechanisms underpinning language switching and the factors influencing inhibitory control in multilingual contexts.Data and Analysis:The experimental data collected were analyzed using the R language with the lme4 package. Reaction times were fitted to a linear mixed-effects model, while accuracy was binary coded and fitted to a generalized mixed-effects model with a logistic link function.Findings:The study found that: (1) there were n–2 language repetition costs in Chinese–English–Japanese trilinguals’ code-switching during language comprehension and (2) the n–2 language repetition costs in code-switching processing during language comprehension was not affected by specific stimulus–response configurations but was related to the psychological representation of the competing languages.Originality:There is a lack of research investigating the switching of three language tasks using n–2 language repetition costs as an index. Limited studies employing n–2 language repetition costs as an index have predominantly focused on the level of language production, with language comprehension yet to be examined. In addition, there exists a dearth of research addressing the inhibitory mechanisms involved in the code-switching process between phonetic and logographic writing systems; even more limited attention has been directed toward the intricacies of switching between three non-cognate languages.Significance/Implications:The study reveals the inhibitory processing involved in code-switching between phonetic and logographic writing systems. It extends previous findings concerning the inhibitory processing of code-switching during language production within phonetic languages, providing new insights into the research on code-switching and the n–2 language repetition costs among multilingual individuals.

Vidal Noguera, Carmen; Mavrou, Irini

doi: 10.1177/13670069241305272pmid: N/A

Aim:The affective valence of surprise depends on both individual and contextual factors. This study examined the role of language and cultural background in the linguistic and affective properties of written narratives of surprise produced by adolescent heritage language (HL) speakers and first language (L1) users.Methodology and Data Analysis:Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to investigate the overall emotional valence, the themes, and the valence and the emotional arousal of the affective vocabulary used in the narratives of surprise written by 148 adolescents, consisting of 60 bilingual speakers of HL Spanish who had grown up in Germany, 27 L1 Spanish speakers and 61 L1 German speakers.Findings:Most of the narratives of surprise had positive emotional valence. Narratives of surprise in Spanish (both L1 and HL) contained more positive, negative and high-arousal words. The heritage speakers recalled different experiences of surprise depending on the language they used and expressed this emotion following similar linguistic and cultural patterns to those of L1 speakers, but with specific attributes that were related to their bilingual/HL speaker status.Originality:We adopted a holistic approach to examine how adolescent heritage speakers express the emotion of surprise and to gain an in-depth understanding of this non-prototypical emotion that has varying affective properties. The methodological innovation is due to the combination of different paradigms and data analysis techniques, including a content analysis, a thematic analysis, and both a within- and a between-subjects design.Implications:The linguistic and cultural factors influencing the expression of surprise should be considered in language teaching and other fields of human communication. Narratives of surprise can be used as a source of second language learning, and surprising information must be transmitted considering the positive or negative effect it might have on the audience.

İlerten, Ferda; Haznedar, Belma; Babür, Nalan

doi: 10.1177/13670069241305283pmid: N/A

Objectives:The study investigated the role of linguistic and cognitive factors in Turkish word reading fluency (WREAD) among second-grade Turkish–Arabic simultaneous bilingual and Turkish monolingual children. It specifically focused on the impact of phonological awareness (PA), phonological memory (PM), rapid automatized naming (RAN), morphological awareness (MA), morphological fluency (MF), processing speed (PS), and vocabulary knowledge (VK) on reading fluency.Methodology:The study used a cross-sectional design and collected data from 127 children in Hatay, Turkey. The participants completed a battery of tests measuring PA, PM, RAN, MA, PS, VK, and WREAD. The tests were administered individually, and the scores, along with the time spent on each test, were recorded.Data and analysis:Data from the tests were analyzed using SPSS 22.0. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to determine the differences between bilingual and monolingual children in the linguistic and cognitive measures. Pearson r correlation analyses were conducted to illustrate the relationship among the variables and stepwise regression analyses to explore the extent to which these variables explained the variance in WREAD.Findings:The findings highlighted significant differences between Turkish–Arabic bilingual and Turkish monolingual children in PA and PS. While MF and RAN explained WREAD in the bilingual group, MF and PA were the strongest predictors of WREAD in the monolingual children.Originality:This study is the first to investigate word reading development in Turkish–Arabic simultaneous bilingual children, contributing novel insights into literacy acquisition in simultaneous bilingualism. In addition, the concept of MF has been proposed in the literature as a distinct measurement from MA.Significance:The study expands the existing knowledge on bilingual reading development, emphasizing the importance of timed cognitive and linguistic variables in predicting WREAD. It also sheds light on the educational needs of bilingual children in the Turkish context.

Albirini, Abdulkafi; Benmamoun, Elabbas

doi: 10.1177/13670069241299070pmid: N/A

Aims and objectives:Despite the growth in research on heritage grammars, very few studies focused on heritage speakers’ knowledge of the syntax of wh-questions. This paper examines heritage Egyptian speakers’ knowledge of wh-questions in their L1 with particular focus on their knowledge of (1) the four main strategies of wh-question formation (three movement strategies and one in situ strategy) and (2) the unmarkedness of the in situ strategy compared to the movement strategy.Design:This study implements a cross-sectional design comparing an experimental group (30 heritage Egyptian speakers) and a control group (22 native Egyptian speakers) with respect to the issues under investigation.Data and analysis:Besides a proficiency measure and a background questionnaire, the participants completed three tasks: an elicited oral production task, an acceptability judgment task, and a preference task. The data from the oral production task were transcribed verbatim and coded in an Excel sheet. The data from the other two tasks were coded in two separate Excel sheets. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to describe and analyze the data from the three tasks.Findings:Heritage speakers had robust knowledge of the core aspects of wh-questions, including word order, strategies of wh-question formation, and resumption. They also realize the difference between marked and unmarked forms and often opt for the unmarked in situ strategy. However, they diverge from the controls in errors and patterns that mostly reflect transfer effects from their dominant L2 (English).Originality:This study is the first to explore wh-questions in heritage Arabic. Although very few studies focused on wh-questions in other languages, most of the issues examined here are unique because Egyptian Arabic deploys multiple strategies in constructing wh-questions.Implications:The findings corroborate the hypothesis that the core aspects of syntax are less susceptible to language loss. The results also demonstrate that heritage grammar is unique as it diverges from the grammar of L1 speakers in significant respects.

Muda, Rafał; Milczarski, Wojciech; Borkowska, Anna; Białek, Michał

doi: 10.1177/13670069241307890pmid: N/A

Research questions:The Moral Foreign Language Effect is a phenomenon in which individuals exhibit lower moral engagement (i.e., are simultaneously less deontological and less utilitarian) when using a foreign language compared to their native language. This paper reports on three experiments involving bilingual participants to investigate the impact of foreign language on moral judgment in self-sacrifice dilemmas.Design:In three experiments, we asked N = 425 participants whether they would self-sacrifice to save other people. In Experiment 1, the people to be saved were strangers. In Experiment 2, they were relatives. Experiment 3 replicated the first two with the addition of the control condition with the option to sacrifice a stranger instead.Data and analysis:Experiments 1 and 3 showed no effect of language on willingness to self-sacrifice. In Experiment 2, the participants using a foreign language were less willing to sacrifice themselves.Conclusions:Language has no consistent effect on participants’ willingness to sacrifice themselves or others.Originality:Contrary to previous studies on the issue, we controlled both for the beneficiaries (strangers vs. relatives) and the method of saving them (self-sacrifice vs. sacrifice of a stranger).Significance:Our results cast doubt on the robustness of the moral Foreign Language Effect.Limitations:We limited our research design to two language pairs. Failure to replicate Experiment 2 results in Experiment 3 could be an effect of the different language pairs used in both experiments.

Castle, Chloe; Jensberg, Helene Ruud; Velnić, Marta; Malarski, Kamil; Jensen, Isabel Nadine; Wrembel, Magdalena

doi: 10.1177/13670069241303859pmid: N/A

Aims and Objectives/Purpose/Research Questions:There is scant literature on second dialect acquisition for both L1 and L2 speakers (Drummond, 2013; Gnevsheva et al., 2022), with no literature on L3 speakers. In this article, we focus on dialect acquisition in multilinguals, in participants’ third or additional language acquired in adulthood. We explore this in the context of Norway, a country with significant dialectal variation and where dialects have relative prestige.Design/Methodology/Approach:A translation task and an acceptability judgement task (AJT) were used to assess Polish–English–Norwegian speakers’ production (in the lexicon) and perception (in morphosyntax) of the Tromsø dialect.Data and Analysis:We assessed use of dialect forms in the translation task between groups (L1 Norwegian-L2 English and L1 Polish-L2 English-L3 Norwegian) with a linear mixed effects model. We also used Random Forests and a linear mixed effects model to assess dialect use within the L1 Polish group against seventeen sociolinguistic and linguistic variables. Finally, we used a linear mixed effects model to examine AJT responses between groups.Findings/conclusions:We find that some participants use the Tromsø dialect in production (albeit variably), and key predictors of this are how much they like the Tromsø dialect and passive language use in Norwegian. Participants do not appear to be sensitive to dialectal differences in morphosyntax.Significance/Implications:L3 learners who immigrated as adults can and do use the local dialect, and this use is modulated by social factors. In addition, such learners seem more able to use and exploit their knowledge of dialectal differences at the lexical level.

Di Salvo, Margherita

doi: 10.1177/13670069241301345pmid: N/A

Aims:This article investigates English lexical insertions in a corpus collected with first- and second-generation Italian migrants in two English cities, namely Bedford and Cambridge. It aims to establish whether, and to what extent, two Italian heritage communities share the same patterns of language alternation.Methodology/approach:I describe the frequency and type of lexical insertions to verify whether the study of lexical insertions or insertions of multiword units can shed light on the linguistic repertoire of each of the communities. The two Italian communities share many social features but differ in the ways Italians integrated or not into the host society.Data analysis:The dataset used for this contribution was collected through qualitative interviews with Italian migrants belonging to three different generations: first, second, and intermediate generations. The corpus used in this paper consists of approximately 50 hours of speech (35 hours for Bedford and 15 hours for Cambridge). I correlated the insertions of single lexemes with semantic and pragmatic specificity from a quantitative and qualitative perspective.Conclusions/results:The results provided evidence that insertion is first influenced by specificity as already Backus argued. External parameters such as migrants’ employment, ethnic composition of the social network, the size of the migrant community, and its social visibility do not, therefore, affect the borrowability of the lexemes belonging to specific domains, the frequency of which leads to their entrenchment as English lexemes even when speakers adopt the monolingual mode in Italian or dialect. The two communities do, however, differ in terms of the matrix language into which the English insertion is embedded: Italians prefer Italian as the matrix language in Cambridge but not in Bedford.Originality:The study confirms how similar Italian communities can be characterized by different linguistic usage and by a different linguistic repertoire.

Ward, Rebecca; Ragosko, Malgozata

doi: 10.1177/13670069241308078pmid: N/A

Aims and objectives:Previous research has reported that varied language experiences and language use can play a role in the development of empathy and emotional intelligence (EI). The present study aimed to investigate the association between language experience, bilingualism and personality.Methodology:One hundred and forty-two participants completed a language background questionnaire along with a series of measures to assess empathy and both trait and ability EI.Data and analysis:Measures included the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire short form (TEIQue), the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ), and the Situational Test of Emotional Understanding Brief (STEU-B). Hierarchical regression models, analyses of variance (ANOVAs), and Structural Equation Modelling were used to examine the relationships between language experience, bilingualism, and measures of empathy and EI.Findings:Findings reveal that bilingualism and language experiences did not contribute to empathy and EI. These results question the role that linguistic experience has in shaping empathy and EI. However, a significant difference in empathy and EI scores emerged when comparing participants who processed information in their first (or native) language to those who did not, suggesting that empathy and EI are stronger when processed in the first language.Originality:This study provides a new understanding of the influence of language background on empathy and EI as well as the impact of processing information in a first language.Significance:This study highlights the importance of considering the role that language has in future cross-cultural and cross-linguistic studies. Implications for the use of culturally appropriate measures and future research are discussed.

Shin, Gyu-Ho; Saad, George; Kratochvíl, František

doi: 10.1177/13670069241303027pmid: N/A

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions:We investigate how Alor Malay–Abui child bilinguals, a non-WEIRD and underrepresented population in the field, comprehend and produce reflexive and non-reflexive possessive constructions in Abui. Their profiles of language development are explored through functionalist accounts that highlight the close connection between language and domain-general learning capacities, with special emphasis on three models: Competition Model, usage-based approach, and processing determinism.Design/methodology/approach:A total of 17 children (experimental group) and 17 adults (comparison group) complete a forced-choice sentence comprehension task (where they listen to two sentences following a short video prompt and verbally select the sentence that best describes the clip) and an elicited production task (where they watch a series of video clips and describe what is happening in each clip in a semi-spontaneous way).Data and analysis:This study employs mixed-effects modelling for data analysis. The global model per experiment includes Condition (reflexive; non-reflexive) and Group (child; adult) as fixed effects and Participant and Item as random effects, with the maximal random-effects structure allowed by the model.Findings/conclusions:Results show asymmetric performance by bilingual children on the two construction types across both experiments. Our findings provide insight into the developing processor in bilingual children, influenced by various factors such as usage frequency, cognitive skills, and task effects, within the functionalist framework.Originality and significance/implications:The findings of this study align with functionalist accounts for language development, illuminating the intricate deployment of linguistic knowledge in the minds of bilingual children interfacing with language-usage experience and domain-general factors. By combining the three models of functionalism, our findings are more properly understood, highlighting their complementary nature in addressing developmental trajectories of linguistic knowledge for child bilinguals. Importantly, our study shifts our attention to a unique bilingual context that has not been explored – lesser-studied languages and learning environments, contributing to offsetting the sampling bias persistent in the field.