Event-related potentials reveal evidence for syntactic co-activation in bilingual language processing
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Alicia Luque
Abstract
A critical question about bilingualism is how two or more languages are processed in the bilingual mind (e.g., Kroll, Bobb, & Hoshino, 2014). Previous research shows that bilinguals’ languages interact, at least at the lexical and phonological levels. Relatively little research has addressed whether this occurs at the syntactic level during sentence processing. One event-related potential study with Welsh-English bilinguals showed co-activation of syntactic properties of one language that affected processing of the other language (Sanoudaki & Thierry, 2014, 2015). The current study replicates Sanoudaki and Thierry with Spanish-English bilinguals, and the results largely reproduce their findings of syntactic co-activation during sentence processing. These converging results have implications for theories about bilingual language processing regarding how syntax may interact in the bilingual mind.
Abstract
A critical question about bilingualism is how two or more languages are processed in the bilingual mind (e.g., Kroll, Bobb, & Hoshino, 2014). Previous research shows that bilinguals’ languages interact, at least at the lexical and phonological levels. Relatively little research has addressed whether this occurs at the syntactic level during sentence processing. One event-related potential study with Welsh-English bilinguals showed co-activation of syntactic properties of one language that affected processing of the other language (Sanoudaki & Thierry, 2014, 2015). The current study replicates Sanoudaki and Thierry with Spanish-English bilinguals, and the results largely reproduce their findings of syntactic co-activation during sentence processing. These converging results have implications for theories about bilingual language processing regarding how syntax may interact in the bilingual mind.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Preface vii
- Gender assignment in Basque/Spanish mixed determiner phrases 15
- The familiar and the strange 39
- Adjective placement in Spanish and Basque mixed DPs 63
- That -trace effects in Spanish-English code-switching 101
- Modality in experimental code-switching research 147
- Event-related potentials reveal evidence for syntactic co-activation in bilingual language processing 177
- Phonological factors of Spanish/English word internal code-switching 195
- Basque complementizers under the microscope 223
- The future of code-switching research 257
- Subject index 269
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
- Preface vii
- Gender assignment in Basque/Spanish mixed determiner phrases 15
- The familiar and the strange 39
- Adjective placement in Spanish and Basque mixed DPs 63
- That -trace effects in Spanish-English code-switching 101
- Modality in experimental code-switching research 147
- Event-related potentials reveal evidence for syntactic co-activation in bilingual language processing 177
- Phonological factors of Spanish/English word internal code-switching 195
- Basque complementizers under the microscope 223
- The future of code-switching research 257
- Subject index 269
