What bilinguals tell us about language and the mind

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What bilinguals tell us about language and the
mind
Judith F. Kroll Department of Psychology Program
in Linguistics Center for Language Science
Pennsylvania State University University Park,
PA 16803
NSF Workshop on A Science of Broadening
Participation June 23, 2008
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Acknowledgments
Collaborators

• Teresa Bajo
• Susan Bobb
• Cari Bogulski
• Kate Cheng
• Ingrid Christoffels
• Dorothee Chwilla
• Albert Costa
• Annette De Groot
• Franziska Dietz
• Ton Dijkstra
• Giuli Dussias
• Chip Gerfen
• Tamar Gollan

• David Green
• Taomei Guo
• Noriko Hoshino
• April Jacobs
• Niels Janssen
• Debra Jared
• Wido La Heij
• Jared Linck
• Pedro Macizo
• Erica Michael
• Natasha Miller
• Maya Misra
• Scott Payne

• Pilar Piñar
• Tyler Phelps
• Carmen Ruiz
• Rosa Sánchez-Casas
• Mikel Santesteban
• Herbert Schriefers
• Ana Schwartz
• Bianca Sumutka
• Gretchen Sunderman
• Natasha Tokowicz
• Madelon Van Den Boer
• Janet Van Hell
• Zofia Wodniecka

Research Support

• NSF Grants, BCS-0111734 and BCS-0418071
• NSF Dissertation Grants to Sunderman, Schwartz,
  Hoshino, and Bobb
• NIH Grants MH62479 and R56HD053146 NIH
  Fellowship F33HD055003
• Open Project Grant at State Key Laboratory for
  Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning,
• Beijing Normal University, China
• NSF Advance Leadership Award for Women in
  Cognitive Science, BCS-0317678 with
• Suparna Rajaram and Randi Martin

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More people in the world are bilingual than
monolingual. But until very recently, most
research on language and cognition examined only
monolingual speakers of a single language and
typically speakers of English as the native
language.
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There are many reasons to learn a second language
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Some reasons are more positive than self
defense Current research suggests that both of
a bilinguals languages are active regardless of
the intention or requirement to use one language
alone. The parallel activity of the two
languages is hypothesized to produce
competition. Skilled bilinguals rarely make the
error of speaking the wrong language yet they
often code switch with other similar bilinguals
in the middle of a sentence, suggesting that they
possess an exquisite mechanism of cognitive
control. A life of resolving cross-language
competition appears to confer positive
consequences for cognitive function.
Bilingualism provides a lens for researchers to
examine aspects of the underlying cognitive
architecture that are obscured by native language
skill when investigating language performance in
the first or dominant language only.
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The bilingual is a expert mental juggler
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• A research program on bilingual language
  processing
• 1. How do adult language learners establish
  representations in the L2 and how
• do those representations change with increasing
  skill? Why do some adults
• find it easy to learn a second language and
  others difficult?
• 2. Is it possible for bilinguals to switch off
  one of the two languages to use the
• other? If not, how is the parallel activation of
  the two languages manifest in
• comprehension and production?
• 3. What linguistic properties and cognitive
  abilities modulate the activity of
• the bilinguals two languages to allow the
  intended language to be selected?
• 4. To what extent is language processing in the
  L2 determined by structural
• constraints imposed by the L1 or by the
  availability of cognitive resources?
• 5. What are the consequences of bilingualism for
  language representation and
• processing and more generally for cognition?

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• Approach and Methods
• Who are the bilinguals we study?
• We adopt a broad definition of bilingualism to
  include all individuals who use more
• than one language regularly. We distinguish
  bilingual groups with respect to their
• proficiency in the L2, their relative language
  dominance, the age of acquisition,
• and the degree to which the context of language
  use supports each of the two languages.
• What languages?
• Unless a study requires that we exploit the
  properties of a particular language pair
• (e.g., script differences in Japanese and
  English), we examine many different
• bilingual groups (e.g., native English speakers
  at different levels of proficiency in
• Spanish, French, or German, Spanish-English,
  French-English, German-English,
• Dutch-English, Japanese-English, and
  Chinese-English bilinguals, and deaf readers
• of English who use ASL to communicate).
• Methods

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Talk Outline

• Illustrate the empirical research that reveals
  the presence of cross-language activity, its
  resolution, and the consequences for cognition
  more generally
• Consider the consequence of assuming that
  bilinguals are the norm for cognitive and
  linguistic research rather than the exception
• Discuss ways to increase the diversity of
  participation in research in environments that
  offer little diversity themselves

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(No Transcript)
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• Exploit the presence of cross-language ambiguity
• Interlingual cognates
• hotel (English)- hotel (means hotel in Dutch)
• Interlingual homographs (false friends)
• room (English)- room (means cream in Dutch)
• If a bilingual can function as two monolinguals
  in one, then
• performance in one language alone should be
  independent
• of the sense of meaning of the word in the other
  language.
• Result Bilinguals are typically faster to
  recognize cognates
• but slower to recognize false friends these
  effects can be seen
• in the native language as well as the L2. It is
  not possible to
• simply switch off one of the two languages.

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The phonology of the language not in use
modulates the time to read words in each
language.
Cognates with identical/similar orthography but
similar or different phonology
Schwartz, Kroll, Diaz (2007) Out-of-context
facilitation for naming cognates in L2 when the
phonology converges from L1 to L2 But the same
result for reading in the dominant L1.
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Does reading in sentence context reduce or
eliminate the effects of cross-language
competition?
Perhaps the inability to switch off one of the
two languages only occurs in the absence of
meaningful sentence context.
Schwartz Kroll (2006) Take words that have
been shown to elicit activation of both languages
and put them in full sentence context. Cognates
with identical/similar orthography but similar or
different phonology
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RSVP Method for naming words in sentence context
(250ms/word)
time
Follow along with sentence.
Say red word out loud.
Answer questions when asked.
RSVP Rapid Serial Visual Presentation
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Does the facilitation for naming cognates
disappear in sentence context? If the sentence
provides a cue to language membership, then no
cognate effects should be observed.
High
Result When bilinguals read, sentence
constraint but not language per se eliminates
the cognate effect (Schwartz Kroll, 2006)
Low
Naming in the L2
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We can ask the same question about speaking
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Logic force both languages to be active and to
ask whether there are consequences. If both
languages are normally active, then forcing them
to be active should not disrupt spoken
performance.
Cued picture naming Language of naming depends
on an auditory cue (Kroll, Dijkstra, Janssen,
Schriefers, in preparation)
Picture
Tone cue
Spoken name
bike
English
High tone
Low tone
Dutch
fiets
time
RT
SOA
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Cost of Language Mixing in Cued Picture Naming
Dutch-English Bilinguals (Kroll et al., in
preparation)
Speaking the L2 is independent of the
requirement to have L1 active as well
These results suggest that L1 is normally active
during lexicalization into the L2. Requiring L1
to be active does not affect L2 picture naming
performance.
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In a recent study (Guo, Misra, Kroll, Bobb, in
preparation) we have extended this investigation
to examine the time course of cross-language activ
ation using event-related potentials (ERPs)
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Block order effects for Chinese-English
Bilinguals switching the language of production
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Many studies demonstrate persistent activity of
the L1 in using the L2, not only at the level of
the lexicon but also for the grammar. They show
further that the L1 becomes sensitive to the
influence of the L2. Dussias (2003) How do the
structural commitments of one language
influence the processing of the other
language? Peter fell in love with the daughter
of the psychologist who studied in
California. Who studied in California? Native
English speakers the psychologist Native
Spanish speakers the daughter Critical result
Native Spanish speakers immersed in an English
dominant environment begin to parse sentences in
Spanish, their native language, like English,
their L2! The interaction between the two
languages suggest a high degree of plasticity.
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Can bilinguals exploit language cues and context
to minimize cross-language influences?
Either a bike or a fiets?
More likely to be a a fiets than a bike?
Even more likely to be a fiets?
Definitely Dutch!
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• Consequences of bilingualism for language and
  cognitive processing
• For development L2 skill modulates the
  activation of the translation
• equivalent in L1 but there is activation of
  lexical form relatives for even
• highly proficient bilinguals (Sunderman Kroll,
  2006). These effects can be
• observed not only in speakers of languages that
  share the same alphabet but also in different
  script languages (e.g., Chinese and English) and
  in deaf
• signers who use American sign language to
  communicate but read in English.
• For L1 Not only L2, but also L1 changes with
  increased L2 skill and
• by the nature of the context in which the L2 is
  acquired and maintained
• (Kroll et al., 2002 Kroll et al., 2006 Linck
  Kroll, in preparation).
• For cognitive skill The requirement to negotiate
  the competition across
• the two languages places demands on working
  memory resources and
• enhances the attentional abilities of skilled
  bilinguals (Kroll et al., 2002
• Tokowicz, Michael, Kroll, 2004)

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• What is the consequence of parallel activity and
  competition
• across the bilinguals two languages?
• Bilingualism may confer a specific set of
  cognitive benefits
• to executive function and attention.
• Bilingualism may offer protection against the
  normal declines in
• attentional control associated with aging.
• Bialystok et al. (2005) Older bilinguals
  outperform age-matched
• monolingual counterparts on non-linguistic
  measures of
• inhibitory control.
• Bialystok et al. (2007) Bilingualism delays on
  the onset of
• dementia by four years.

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Increasing the breadth of participation in
environments that offer little diversity
themselves Creating collaborative networks for
research and training
Leiden, The Netherlands
Penn State
Dutch-English bilinguals
English-Spanish learners
Penn States Center for Language Science
http//www.lsrg.psu.edu
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• Benefits of collaborative networks for research
  and training
• Data collection (in both directions we assist
  our colleagues
• who work in locations in which
  bilingualism is more prevalent
• by providing monolingual controls)
• 2. Professional development for graduate
  students Visit host
• laboratories, give research talks,
  interact with research mentors,
• acquire complementary technical skills,
  establish an international
• network of young researchers
• 3. Exchanges in both directions Steady stream
  of visitors
• increases diversity at the home
  institution
• Diversity breeds diversity Undergraduate
  research students
• who are themselves bilingual are likely
  to seek out research
• opportunities in this context

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Learning a second language can have many
interesting consequences
Thank you!