Lexical selection, cross-language interaction, and switch costs in habitually codeswitching bilinguals

Abstract

Bilinguals dynamically activate lexical items in one or both languages depending on a number of factors. We explored the interaction effects of semantic constraints, language context, and L2-proficiency on cross-language interaction and switch costs in bilinguals who habitually codeswitch between Algerian Arabic (AA) and French. We recorded response times to French cognates and non-cognates embedded in auditory AA or French sentences. High proficiency bilinguals could restrict selection to the target language regardless of the language context. In lower proficiency bilinguals, however, selection was specific to the target language in non-switching contexts but was nonspecific in switching contexts where cross-language interaction yielded inhibitory and facilitatory cognate effects. Results of this study therefore suggest that lexical selection in codeswitching bilinguals is dynamic and is dependent on proficiency, semantic constraints and language context. This within-subject study using auditory stimuli contributes towards a more ecological methodology in investigating sentence processing in codeswitching bilinguals.

Oscillatory brain responses to processing code-switches in the presence of others

“…Psycholinguistic and cognitive neuroscience studies on codeswitching have typically found that the comprehension and production of code-switches is costly (Costa & Santesteban, 2004;Meuter & Allport, 1999), but that this cost is modulated by participant characteristics, such as proficiency and language dominance (Bultena et al, 2015;Kheder & Kaan, 2019;Litcofsky & Van Hell, 2017), code-switching habits (Beatty-Martínez & Dussias, 2017;Kheder & Kaan, 2016;Valdés Kroff et al, 2020), frequency of switching patterns in the language (Guzzardo Tamargo et al, 2016), and social cues (Blanco-Elorrieta & Pylkkänen, 2017; Kaan et al, 2020;Martin et al, 2016). This suggests that code-switching is not necessarily costly, yet that its processing depends on how felicitous it is in a given context.…”

The effects of habitual code-switching in bilingual language production on cognitive control

“…Another important factor that has been shown to play a role in bilingual language processing and cognitive control is language proficiency (e.g., Declerck & Kormos, 2012; Kheder & Kaan, 2019; Pivneva, Palmer & Titone, 2012). In Mishra, Hilchey, Singh and Klein's (2012) study, proficient Hindi–English bilinguals were found to outperform bilingual peers with lower L2 proficiency level in a target detection task, reflecting the modulation effect of L2 proficiency on interference and attentional control.…”