No evidence for a mixing benefit—A registered report of voluntary dialect switching

Abstract

Previous language production research with bidialectals has provided evidence for similar language control processes as during bilingual language production. In the current study, we aimed to further investigate this claim by examining bidialectals with a voluntary language switching paradigm. Research with bilinguals performing the voluntary language switching paradigm has consistently shown two effects. First, the cost of switching languages, relative to staying in the same language, is similar across the two languages. The second effect is more uniquely connected to voluntary language switching, namely a benefit when performing in mixed language blocks relative to single language blocks, which has been connected to proactive language control. While the bidialectals in this study also showed symmetrical switch costs, no mixing effect was observed. These results could be taken as evidence that bidialectal and bilingual language control are not entirely similar.

Dialect Recognition via Lexical Processing: Is It a Viable Litmus Test?

“…In connection with this, we have seen a facilitation effect of dialect equivalents. The observed facilitation effect implies that bidialectal speakers have an independent lexical representation, not the co-dependent lexical representation previously proposed by Melinger (2018Melinger ( , 2021 and by Declerck and Kirk (2023). In other words, bilingual and bidialectal speakers have similar lexical selection and representation architecture, as reported by Dylman and Barry (2018), Kirk et al (2022), Kubota et al (2023), andVorwerg et al (2019).…”

“…In a subsequent study, Melinger (2021) investigated bidialectal speakers of British and American English and replicated the co-dependent lexical representation of bidialectal speakers. Moreover, Declerck and Kirk (2023) recently employed the voluntary language-switching paradigm and reported a similar result. They investigated bidialectal speakers of Dundonian Scots and Scottish Standard English and found a symmetrical switch cost between the Dundonian Scots and the Scottish Standard English.…”

“…These studies proposed a language-specific lexical selection of bilingual speakers. Pertaining to the lexical selection and representation of the bidialectal speakers, we predict an interference effect of dialect equivalents, based on Declerck and Kirk (2023) and Melinger (2018Melinger ( , 2021. As to the direction of the inter-lexical facilitation link, we expect an asymmetrical facilitation with either stronger L1-to-L2 facilitation based on Dylman and Barry (2018) or L2-to-L1 facilitation based on Kroll and Stewart (1994).…”

“…The argument that supports the co-dependent dialect representation also comes from studies previously conducted using the voluntary language-switching paradigm. For example, Declerck and Kirk (2023) investigated bidialectal speakers of Dundonian Scots and Scottish Standard English and found a symmetrical switch cost between the Dundonian Scots and the Scottish Standard English. However, they did not find the mixing benefit previously observed in bilingual voluntary switching.…”

A comparison of word humor ratings across speakers of North American, British, and Singapore English

“…Inspired by bilingualism research, some researchers are investigating the cognitive implications of bidialectals who use different varieties of the same language in different contexts (for a review, see Alrwaita et al (2023)). For instance, Kirk et al (2022) and Declerck and Kirk (2023) have shown that bidialectals show a complex pattern of language switching costs in the picture naming task commonly used to study bilingual language production. Melinger (2018) applied the picture word interference paradigm to study the effect of translational equivalents (TE) in Standard Scottish English and Scots English.…”