The role of morphological configuration in language control during bilingual production and comprehension

Abstract

When bilinguals switch between their two languages, they often alternate between words whose formation rules in one language are different from the other (e.g., a noun-verb compound in one language may be a verb-noun compound in another language). In this study, we analyze behavioral performance and electrophysiological activity to examine the effects of morphological configuration on language control during production and comprehension. Chinese–English bilinguals completed a joint naming-listening task involving cued language switching. The findings showed differential effects of morphological configuration on language production and comprehension. In production, morphological configuration was processed sequentially, suggesting that bilingual production may be a combination of sequential processing and inhibition of morphological levels and language interference. In comprehension, however, bottom-up control processes appear to mask the influence of sequential processing on language switching. Together, these findings underscore differential functionalities of language control in speaking and listening.