Online processing of which-questions in bilingual children: Evidence from eye-tracking

Abstract

An emergent debate surrounds the nature of language processing in bilingual children as an extension of broader questions about their morphosyntactic development in comparison to monolinguals, with the picture so far being nuanced. This paper adds to this debate by investigating the processing of morphosyntactically complex which–questions (e.g., Which bear is chasing the camel?) using the visual world paradigm and is the first study to examine the online processing of such questions in bilingual children. For both groups, object which-questions were more difficult than subject which-questions, due to an initial misinterpretation that needed to be reanalysed. Both groups were aided by number mismatch between the two nouns in the sentence, especially in object which-questions. Our findings are in line with previous studies that have shown a slower processing speed in bilingual children relative to monolinguals but qualitatively similar patterns.

Language processing in bilingual children

“…These findings suggest that (morpho)syntactic properties may in some cases be less readily accessible in bilinguals. Yet, several studies suggest that even when bilingual children process language more slowly than their monolingual peers, processing remains qualitatively similar (e.g., Pontikas et al, 2023). Hence, previous findings indicate that whilst bilingual and monolingual children develop similar competences in their languages, bilingual children sometimes are unable to integrate this competence in language production.…”

“…According to the authors, this age effect suggests that the older children processed the sentences more accurately than younger children. Pontikas et al (2024) turned their attention to the online processing of sentences with temporary syntactic ambiguities, a phenomenon which has proven challenging for monolingual children (e.g., Trueswell et al, 1999). Using the visual world paradigm, the authors compared the online processing of so-called garden-path sentences in English in 8-to 11-year-old monolingual and bilingual children.…”