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In individuals who know more than one language, the languages are always active to some degree. This has consequences for language processing, but bilinguals rarely make mistakes in language selection. A prevailing explanation is that bilingualism is supported by strong cognitive control abilities, developed through long-term practice with managing multiple languages and spilling over into more general executive functions. However, not all bilinguals are the same, and not all contexts for bilingualism provide the same support for control and regulation abilities. This paper reviews research on hearing sign–speech bimodal bilinguals who have a unique ability to use and comprehend their two languages at the same time. We discuss the role of this research in re-examining the role of cognitive control in bilingual language regulation, focusing on how results from bimodal bilingualism research relate to recent findings emphasizing the correlation of control abilities with a bilingual’s contexts of language use. Most bimodal bilingualism research has involved individuals in highly English-dominant language contexts. We offer a critical examination of how existing bimodal bilingualism findings have been interpreted, discuss the value of broadening the scope of this research and identify long-standing questions about bilingualism and L2 learning which might benefit from this perspective.
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From the spatial ego to cognitive control: Ellen Bialystok’s early work, 1976–1988
Ellen Bialystok’s early work from 1976–1988 has had a lasting influence on the fields of bilingualism and linguistics. This chapter reviews her seminal work establishing bilingualism as a cross-disciplinary area of study in 1976. It then explores Bialystok’s language processing research of the 1980’s, articulating two of her crucial, yet often overlooked achievements. First, Bialystok’s early information processing models for word-level representations set the stage for an explosion of cognitive bilingualism research by identifying cognitive processes involved in second language acquisition. Second, her work set a precedent for understanding the spectrum of language experiences and their complexities, providing essential insight into why even subtle distinctions should be considered and reported when describing bilinguals. Presciently, Bialystok’s early work anticipated current understandings and future directions for bilingualism research, making her sustained contributions to the area an invaluable asset for continued exploration.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2204272
- PAR ID:
- 10644293
- Publisher / Repository:
- John Benjamins Publishing Company
- Date Published:
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 12 to 37
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract The study of how bilingualism is linked to cognitive processing, including executive functioning, has historically focused on comparing bilinguals to monolinguals across a range of tasks. These group comparisons presume to capture relatively stable cognitive traits and have revealed important insights about the architecture of the language processing system that could not have been gleaned from studying monolinguals alone. However, there are drawbacks to using a group-comparison, or Traits, approach. In this theoretical review, we outline some limitations of treating executive functions as stable traits and of treating bilinguals as a uniform group when compared to monolinguals. To build on what we have learned from group comparisons, we advocate for an emerging complementary approach to the question of cognition and bilingualism. Using an approach that compares bilinguals to themselves under different linguistic or cognitive contexts allows researchers to ask questions about how language and cognitive processes interact based on dynamically fluctuating cognitive and neural states. A States approach, which has already been used by bilingualism researchers, allows for cause-and-effect hypotheses and shifts our focus from questions of group differences to questions of how varied linguistic environments influence cognitive operations in the moment and how fluctuations in cognitive engagement impact language processing.more » « less
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This article presents a selective overview of topics related to the language experience of early bimodal bilinguals - individuals who are raised from an early age using two languages from two different modalities, typically spoken (or written) and signed. We show that deaf and hearing bimodal bilinguals may display patterns of bilingualism that are similar to unimodal bilinguals in some ways, such as the use of both languages in a single situation or even a single utterance. Nevertheless, there are also differences between bimodal and unimodal bilinguals, and differences among different subgroups of bimodal bilinguals, given large variation in relative access to the dominant and minority language(s) in their environment and their differential experiences in schooling and interactions with potential interlocutors. Moreover, we review studies discussing potential advantages of the sign modality and advantages of bilingualism in this population. We hope to highlight the importance of considering children’s overall language experience, including the age(s) at which they are exposed to each of their languages, the richness of their experiences with each of the languages, and the ways that the language-learning experience may contribute to the child’s linguistic and cognitive development.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Book Chapter:
- https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.64.02leo
