Cognate picture naming in bilingual aphasia.

Abstract

Cognate vs. non-cognate words have been utilised to understand the impact of shared structures in bilinguals' lexical organisation and processing. Despite clinical and theoretical importance of understanding the influence of shared structures, there remains limited research in bilingual aphasia. We investigated cognate effects in bilingual aphasia to determine if these effects are modulated by bilingualism profiles and executive control abilities. Picture naming data for cognates vs. non-cognate words were collected from seven Bengali-English bilinguals with aphasia (BWA) and matched controls in both languages, along with executive control measures. At the group level, BWA showed significant cognate facilitation in the non-dominant language. Individual level analyses revealed cognate facilitation in only two of the seven BWA. Specifically, BWA with relatively preserved executive control abilities did not show cognate facilitation. The findings highlight that cognate facilitation is not universal and can be influenced by individual differences in language dominance and executive control abilities.