Despite a meteoric rise, results in the cognitive science of bilingualism present with significant inconsistency. In parallel, there is a striking absence of an ecologically valid theory within bilingualism research. How should one interpret the totality of available data that can pull in opposing directions? To proceed, we need to identify which practices impede progression. Hitherto, we bring to the fore an undiscussed practice, contextualizing how it impacts the ability to embed the available results into an overarching theory. We suggest that a stacking the deck fallacy – the tendency to engage differently with available evidence, directing focus to specific sub-samples – hampers theory formation. We put forth a proposal for making progress, building on the premise that what is lacking in the field is a unifying perspective that reconciles seemingly contradictory results. We suggest that the necessary shift of perspective towards progress crucially entails linking the notions of spectrum and trade-off.
Bilingual adaptations remain a subject of ongoing debate, with varying results reported across cognitive domains. A possible way to disentangle the apparent inconsistency of results is to focus on the domain of language processing, which is what the bilingual experience boils down to. This study delves into the role of the bilingual experience on the processing of agreement mismatches. Given the underrepresentation of minority bilingual speakers of non-standard varieties, we advance a unique comparative perspective that includes monolinguals, standard language bilinguals, and different groups of minority language bilinguals, taking advantage of the rich linguistic diversity of the Italian peninsula. This comparative approach can reveal the impact of various sociolinguistic aspects of the bilingual experience across different bilingual trajectories. We developed an auditory acceptability judgement task in Italian, featuring Subject-Verb agreement mismatches. Participants evaluated the stimuli on a 5-point Likert scale and reaction times were recorded. The results do not reveal significant differences between the speakers of standard languages: Italian monolinguals and Italian-Spanish bilinguals. Instead, significant differences are found between monolinguals and the two groups of minority language bidialectals, as well as between the bidialectal groups themselves: Italian-Pavese bidialectals were faster than both Italian-Agrigentino bidialectals and Italian monolinguals, while Italian-Agrigentino bidialectals were less accurate than both Italian-Pavese bidialectals and Italian monolinguals. This intricate picture is explained through variables associated with second language use and language switching. Our findings suggest that if bilingualism is viewed as a yes/no phenotype, it is unavoidable that the bilingual experience will remain a mystery linked to intensely debated results. If, however, one accepts that bilingual adaptations are shaped by the environmental ecology of each trajectory, variation across bilingual processing outcomes is unsurprising. Overall, we argue that specific sociolinguistic factors behind each bilingual experience can reveal where bilingual adaptations on language and cognition stem from.
Being bilingual confers certain behavioral adaptations. The two ongoing discussions that surround their occurrence concern the type of the effect and its origin. The former can be analyzed in terms of three outcomes: positive, negative, and null. The status of the latter is less clear. While many studies recognize some interaction of cognitive factors with social factors such as socio-economic status and sociolinguistic prestige, these observations are often made in passing and lack critical detail. Consequently, it has not been yet determined what degree of the reported bilingualism-related behavioral adaptations derive primarily from sociolinguistic factors. This systematic PRISMA-based review addresses this question. Analyzing the results of 368 studies, we find that 73.41% of the 267 studies that report bilingual adaptations attribute them either to sociolinguistic factors alone or to the interaction of sociolinguistic factors with cognitive factors. Linking the two debates, type of effect and origin of effect, this systematic review finds a previously unreported correlation: Studies that find evidence for bilingual disadvantages are more likely to claim a sociolinguistic origin, while studies that report bilingual advantages are more likely to link their findings to a cognitive origin. We discuss these results and present the key components of a sociolinguistic theory of the origin of bilingual effects.
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