Being a Student or at Home

Does Topic Influence How Bilinguals Process Words in Each Language

Bibliographic Data

ID5900436
AuthorsVeniamin Shiron (University of York), Huanhuan Liu (0000-0002-9709-4757, Liaoning Normal University), Angela De Bruin (0000-0001-8326-0294, University of York, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume6
Issue3
Pages150
Publication date2021-09-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLanguages (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2226-471X • E-ISSN: 2226-471X
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/languages6030150
OpenAlexW3198307763
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited24

Research has assessed how language use differences between bilinguals (e.g., whether two languages are used approximately equally often or not) influence language processing. However, first (L1) and second (L2) language use might also differ within bilinguals, depending on the topic of conversation. For example, a Mandarin-English bilingual studying in North America or the UK might talk about exams in English but about their childhood in Mandarin. In this study, we therefore examined how topics associated with either the L1 or L2 can influence language processing. Twenty-nine Mandarin-English students in North America/the UK completed a lexical decision task in single-language contexts (all words/pseudowords in one language) and in dual-language contexts (alternating between Mandarin and English). Half of the words referred to L1-associated topics (childhood and family life) and half were L2-associated (studying and life at university). Topic influenced L2 processing, with L2-associated topics being processed faster than topics associated with the L1 in single- and dual-language contexts. In contrast, topic did not influence L1 processing. This suggests that L2 processing might not only be influenced by differences between bilinguals but also by differences within bilinguals. In contrast, L1 processing might be less susceptible to influences of topic-specific language use

Cognition · Contrast (vision · Conversation · First language · Lexical decision task · Linguistics · Mandarin Chinese · Neuroscience of multilingualism · Second language · Categorization, perception, and language · Communication · Computer Science · Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism · Psychology · Second Language Acquisition and Learning · Artificial Intelligence

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