The effects of aging on bilingual language: What changes, what doesn't, and why

Abstract

Substantial research has examined cognition in aging bilinguals. However, less work has investigated the effects of aging on language itself in bilingualism. In this article I comprehensively review prior research on this topic, and interpret the evidence in light of current theories of aging and theories of bilingualism. First, aging indeed appears to affect bilinguals’ language performance, though there is considerable variability in the trajectory across adulthood (declines, age-invariance, and improvements) and in the extent to which these trajectories resemble those found in monolinguals. I argue that these age effects are likely explained by the key opposing forces of increasing experience and cognitive declines in aging. Second, consistent with some theoretical work on bilingual language processing, the grammatical processing mechanisms do not seem to change between younger and older bilingual adults, even after decades of immersion. I conclude by discussing how future research can further advance the field.

Network analysis for modeling complex systems in SLA research

“…Out of the three measures of language knowledge (grammar, vocabulary, and collocations), age is most strongly linked to vocabulary (0.35), which is the strongest positive edge in the network 1 . This is in line with previous studies which have shown that vocabulary is typically the only aspect of language knowledge that does not tend to decline with age (Reifegerste, 2021). As could be expected, age is also related to print exposure.…”

“…As could be expected, age is also related to print exposure. Age has a negative association with nonverbal IQ and language analytic ability, which is consistent with previous research on cognitive decline and aging (Reifegerste, 2021). There is also a negative relationship between age and education, which is logical considering that the percentage of university attendance has increased over the years.…”

Bilingualism and ageing independently impact on language processing: evidence from comprehension and production

“…Although both the bilingualism and ageing literature highlight the disadvantages in language processing, very little research has examined their combined impact (see Reifegerste, 2021, for a review), and only one previous study has examined L1 processing. Gollan et al (2008) asked younger and older mono-and bilinguals to name pictures with low-or high-frequency names.…”

“…To summarize, there is evidence from separate studies on bilingualism and ageing for comparable disadvantages in language processing, but research on the combined effects of these two factors found no interaction between them. Further investigation of the combined impact of bilingualism and age in language processing will advance our understanding of how normal ageing affects bilingual language processing (e.g., Reifegerste, 2021). We therefore tested young and older monolingual and bilingual speakers in both comprehension (Experiment 1) and production (Experiment 2) of L1 sentences where we manipulated linguistic aspects that are thought to underlie disadvantages in language processing in bilinguals and older adults.…”