{"title":"Second language embodiment of action verbs: the impact of bilingual experience as a multidimensional spectrum","authors":"Xiaojun Lu, Jing Yang","doi":"10.1017/s1366728924000981","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728924000981","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Embodiment theories postulate that language processing inherently engages the sensorimotor system. This study explores the embodiment of action verbs in the second language (L2) and the effects of various L2 experiences (L2 age of acquisition, exposure, dominance, and proficiency) on L2 embodiment. Sixty-one Chinese–English bilinguals participated in two experiments judging semantic relatedness: Experiment 1 involved verb–picture pairs, while Experiment 2 focused on verb–verb pairs. Both experiments were conducted in the participants’ first language (Chinese) and second language (English), with the stimuli depicting actions performed by specific effectors (e.g., mouth, hand, and foot). Results showed that participants took longer to reject mismatched verb–picture pairs and semantic-unrelated verb–verb pairs when the actions shared the same effector (e.g., walk–run) than those involving different effectors (e.g., eat–touch). Moreover, L2 age of acquisition, exposure, and dominance correlated with the L2 embodiment effect, with L2 age of acquisition and exposure modulating this effect. This study enhances our understanding of L2 embodied semantics and illuminates the impact of multidimensional L2 experiences on embodiment.</p>","PeriodicalId":8758,"journal":{"name":"Bilingualism: Language and Cognition","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142987874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sofía Castro, Patrycja Kałamała, Marcin Bukowski, Zofia Wodniecka
{"title":"Relationship between bilingual experiences and social biases: the moderating role of motivation to respond without prejudice","authors":"Sofía Castro, Patrycja Kałamała, Marcin Bukowski, Zofia Wodniecka","doi":"10.1017/s1366728924000543","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728924000543","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Previous studies have reported fewer social biases in bilinguals compared to monolinguals. However, it is unclear whether the expression of social biases varies across the bilingualism spectrum. This article investigates the connections between different dimensions of bilingual experience and the expression of explicit bias. We analyzed the responses of 389 bilinguals to a battery of questionnaires on bilingual and multicultural experiences, explicit bias, internal and external motivation to respond without prejudice and executive control. The results show that more diverse language-use and language-learning experiences were associated with lower explicit bias among bilinguals who had lower internal motivation to respond without prejudice (i.e., motivation driven by personal values). This study presents novel evidence on the relationships between bilingual experiences and the expression of social biases.</p>","PeriodicalId":8758,"journal":{"name":"Bilingualism: Language and Cognition","volume":"37 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142987873","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gaël Cordero, Jazmin R. Paredes-Paredes, Manuel Perea, Nuria Sebastian-Galles, Begoña Díaz
{"title":"Voice processing ability predicts second-language phoneme learning in early bilingual adults","authors":"Gaël Cordero, Jazmin R. Paredes-Paredes, Manuel Perea, Nuria Sebastian-Galles, Begoña Díaz","doi":"10.1017/s136672892400110x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s136672892400110x","url":null,"abstract":"Individuals differ greatly in their ability to learn the sounds of second languages, even when learning starts early in life. Recent research has suggested that the ability to identify the idiosyncratic acoustic variations introduced into the speech stream by the speaker might be relevant for second-language (L2) phoneme learning. However, only a positive correlation between voice recognition and phoneme learning has been shown. In the present study, we investigated whether voice processing ability predicts L2 phoneme learning. We employed a battery of behavioral cognitive ability measures to assess voice processing ability and L2 phoneme learning in 57 early bilingual adults. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) and structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that voice processing ability predicts L2 phoneme learning. Our findings align with theories of speech perception that attribute a fundamental role to the analysis of voice cues and suggest that the accurate identification of speaker-specific variation is also relevant for phoneme learning.","PeriodicalId":8758,"journal":{"name":"Bilingualism: Language and Cognition","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142987509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Olga Parshina, Anna Smirnova, Sofya Goldina, Emily Bainbridge
{"title":"The effect of the global language context on bilingual language control during L1 reading","authors":"Olga Parshina, Anna Smirnova, Sofya Goldina, Emily Bainbridge","doi":"10.1017/s1366728924000658","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728924000658","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The <span>proactive gain control</span> hypothesis suggests that the global language context regulates lexical access to the bilinguals’ languages during reading. Specifically, with increasing exposure to non-target language cues, bilinguals adjust the lexical activation to allow non-target language access from the earliest word recognition stages. Using the invisible boundary paradigm, we examined the flow of lexical activation in 50 proficient Russian-English bilinguals reading in their native Russian while the language context shifted from a monolingual to a bilingual environment. We gradually introduced non-target language cues (the language of experimenter and fillers) while also manipulating the type of word previews (identical, code-switches, unrelated code-switches, pseudowords). The results revealed the facilitatory reading effects of code-switches but only in the later lexical processing stages and these effects were independent of the global language context manipulation. The results are discussed from the perspective of limitations imposed by script differences on bilingual language control flexibility.</p>","PeriodicalId":8758,"journal":{"name":"Bilingualism: Language and Cognition","volume":"16 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142986078","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The influence of cross-speaker code-switching and language ability on inhibitory control in bilingual children","authors":"Emily Hansen, Caitlyn Slawny, Margarita Kaushanskaya","doi":"10.1017/s1366728924000804","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728924000804","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Prior work has yielded mixed findings regarding the relationship between language control and domain-general inhibitory control. Here, we tested the possibility that omnibus language ability would moderate the relationship between language control and inhibitory control in bilingual children. We tested 43 Spanish-English bilingual children (ages 4–5.92 years; 25 females). Children engaged in play-based interactions with their parent, and rates of cross-speaker switches (using a language different from one used by parent) indexed language control. Inhibitory control was measured via a non-verbal flanker task. Analyses revealed that higher frequency of cross-speaker code-switches was associated with better inhibitory control only for children with higher levels of language ability. For children with lower language skills, there was no association between switches and inhibitory control. These findings align with the literature linking cognitive control and language control in bilinguals and extend it to indicate that the strength of the language system constrains this link.</p>","PeriodicalId":8758,"journal":{"name":"Bilingualism: Language and Cognition","volume":"2 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142981942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The graded effects of bilingualism and language ability on children’s cross-situational word learning","authors":"Kimberly Crespo, Margarita Kaushanskaya","doi":"10.1017/s1366728924000592","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728924000592","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The present study examined whether length of bilingual experience and language ability contributed to cross-situational word learning (XSWL) in Spanish-English bilingual school-aged children. We contrasted performance in a high variability condition, where children were exposed to multiple speakers and exemplars simultaneously, to performance in a condition where children were exposed to no variability in either speakers or exemplars. Results revealed graded effects of bilingualism and language ability on XSWL under conditions of increased variability. Specifically, bilingualism bolstered learning when variability was present in the input but not when variability was absent in the input. Similarly, robust language abilities supported learning in the high variability condition. In contrast, children with weaker language skills learned more word-object associations in the no variability condition than in the high variability condition. Together, the results suggest that variation in the learner and variation in the input interact and modulate mechanisms of lexical learning in children.</p>","PeriodicalId":8758,"journal":{"name":"Bilingualism: Language and Cognition","volume":"5 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2025-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142936091","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Inhibitory control facilitates learning new knowledge based on existing knowledge in cross-linguistic word contexts","authors":"Zilan Zou, Baoguo Chen","doi":"10.1017/s1366728924000993","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728924000993","url":null,"abstract":"In cross-linguistic word learning, learning new knowledge based on existing knowledge is a common and lifelong process. This study investigated whether inhibitory control would be conducive to this process. We asked Chinese-English bilinguals to learn new meanings for familiar English ambiguous words within two consecutive days, manipulating semantic relatedness and word frequency to create four categories: high-frequency-unrelated, high-frequency-related, low-frequency-unrelated and low-frequency-related ambiguous words. Participants completed translation recognition and production tests immediately after learning and again one week later, with flanker and stop-signal tasks interspersed to measure their interference inhibition and response inhibition. The results indicated that inhibitory control, particularly interference inhibition, significantly aided in learning new meanings when direct knowledge transfer from existing knowledge was unfeasible. This research enhances our comprehension of individual differences in word learning, offering valuable perspectives for broader theories of word learning and targeted educational interventions.","PeriodicalId":8758,"journal":{"name":"Bilingualism: Language and Cognition","volume":"202 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142887353","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"V2 is not difficult to all learners in all contexts: a cross-sectional study of L2 Danish","authors":"Katrine Falcon Søby, Line Burholt Kristensen","doi":"10.1017/s1366728924000518","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728924000518","url":null,"abstract":"In a cross-sectional study of L2 Danish, we examined the production of correct verb-second (V2) word order. We tested the effect of (1) the learners’ language background, (2) test level and (3) the length of the sentence constituents. The texts were written by 217 students (3 test levels (A2-B1), 52 different L1s). Interrogative clauses had high accuracy, but 25% of the 491 declarative sentences with non-initial subjects had incorrect V3 word order. Our study shows that V2 is not difficult for all learners. Learners whose L1 is a V2 language had a significantly higher share of correct V2 word order, and they never overused V2. For non-V2 learners, the share of correct V2 significantly increased with proficiency level. For constituent length, accuracy decreased significantly with the length of the first constituent and for subjects consisting of multiple words.","PeriodicalId":8758,"journal":{"name":"Bilingualism: Language and Cognition","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142886839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Henriette Arndt, Jonas Granfeldt, Marianne Gullberg
{"title":"Language exposure and use in study abroad versus migration contexts: modelling activity and learner profiles with ESM data","authors":"Henriette Arndt, Jonas Granfeldt, Marianne Gullberg","doi":"10.1017/s136672892400097x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s136672892400097x","url":null,"abstract":"Language exposure and use (LEU) are widely viewed as key factors in multilingual development, and research highlights the importance of considering not just the frequency and quantity of LEU, but also contextual factors such as when and where a language is used, with whom and why. In this study, we illustrate the complexity of LEU in two contexts (study abroad and migration) by applying sequential mixture modelling to rich Experience Sampling Method data, considering combinations of various aspects of LEU such as language choice, type of activity, quantity, interlocutor characteristics and learner engagement. We argue that together, these methods for data collection and analysis have the potential to significantly strengthen research into LEU and broader language-related development. By uncovering distinct classes of language-related activities and language user profiles, we gain deeper insight into the nature of situated LEU and its relationship to language development among migrants and in study abroad.","PeriodicalId":8758,"journal":{"name":"Bilingualism: Language and Cognition","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142886840","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Different bilingual experiences predict different executive functions: Evidence from mouse-tracking","authors":"Aslı Yurtsever, Kaiah N. Sotebeer, John G. Grundy","doi":"10.1017/s1366728924000786","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728924000786","url":null,"abstract":"There is evidence to suggest that the effects of bilingualism on executive functions (EFs) need to be examined along a continuum rather than a dichotomy. The present study addressed this need by examining the influence of different bilingual experiences on executive functioning using a Flanker and Stroop mouse-tracking task that taps into more dynamic cognitive processes than typical behavioral paradigms. We sampled 98 bilingual young adults and investigated conflict and sequential congruency effects (SCEs). We found that mouse-tracking metrics captured links that were not identified with overall reaction times. SCEs were more sensitive to detecting relations between L2 experiences and EF than simple conflict effects. Second-language age of acquisition and L1/L2 switching frequency consistently predicted EF outcomes. This association was moderated by the attentional demands of the task. These findings highlight the complexity of the effects of bilingualism on cognition, and the use of more sensitive measures to capture these effects.","PeriodicalId":8758,"journal":{"name":"Bilingualism: Language and Cognition","volume":"57 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.6,"publicationDate":"2024-12-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142886896","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}