Minority language bilingualism and its role in L3 lexical acquisition

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the interplay between working memory, lexical capacity, and (self-rated) proficiency in three groups of speakers: monolingual (Spanish), bilingual (Spanish and English), and trilingual (Spanish, English, and Asturian). There is ample debate on the cognitive and lexical (dis)advantages that bilingualism can grant, and on its impact on third language learning. In this chapter, we argue for a cognitive advantage of any type of bilingualism in accuracy in a Luck and Vogel task, and an advantage of simultaneous bilingualism in reaction times. Additionally, we find no evidence for a disadvantage in lexical retrieval for simultaneous bilinguals.