Cover not available

Article published In: EUROSLA Yearbook: Volume 16 (2016)
Edited by Sarah Ann Liszka, Pascale Leclercq, Marion Tellier and Georges Daniel Véronique
[EUROSLA Yearbook 16] 2016
► pp. 1–24

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
authorization required

Language processing in bilinguals

Evidence from lexical organization and cognitive control

 | University of Ottawa, Canada
 | University of Ottawa, Canada
 | University of Ottawa, Canada
 | University of Ottawa, Canada
 | University of Ottawa, Canada
Published online: 10 August 2016
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/eurosla.16.01sab
In this paper we integrate and reinterpret new data from a set of experiments in our lab in order to tease apart many of the factors thought to influence bilingual processing. Specifically we combine data from studies investigating age of immersion (AoI), manner of acquisition (MoA), proficiency and context of bilingualism to (1) investigate the organization of the bilingual mental lexicon and (2) determine the nature of the interaction between bilingualism and cognitive control. We suggest that a naturalistic MoA promotes the integration of the bilingual lexicon, and that an early AoI per se is somewhat less important (though it tends to lead to a more naturalistic MoA). Further, bilinguals with an integrated bilingual lexicon (i.e., naturalistic learners) only develop cognitive control advantages if they are in a dual-language environment.
References (67)
Abutalebi, J. and Green, D. 2007. “Bilingual language production: The neurocognition of language representation and control”. Journal of Neurolinguistics 20(3): 242–275. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Altarriba, J. and Basnight-Brown. D.M. 2007. “Methodological considerations in performing semantic- and translation-priming experiments across languages”. Behavior Research Methods 39(1): 1–18. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. 1999. “Cognitive complexity and attentional control in the bilingual mind”. Child Development 701: 636–644. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. and Craik, F. 2010. “Cognitive and linguistic processing in the bilingual mind”. Current Directions in Psychological Science 19 (1): 19–23. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. and Luk, G. 2008. “Cognitive control and lexical access in younger and older bilinguals”. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 34 (4): 859–873. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2012. “Bilingualism: consequences for mind and brain”. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 16(4): 240–250. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. and Feng, X. 2009. “Language proficiency and executive control in proactive interference: Evidence from monolingual and bilingual children and adults”. Brain and Language 1091: 93–100. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. and Martin, M.M. 2004. “Attention and inhibition in bilingual children: Evidence from the dimensional change card sort task”. Developmental Science 71: 325–339. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Birdsong, D. 1992. “Ultimate attainment in second language acquisition”. Language 681: 706–755. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coderre, E.L., Van Heuven, W.J.B. and Conklin, K. 2013. “The timing and magnitude of Stroop interference and facilitation in monolinguals and bilinguals”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 16 (2): 420–441. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Correa, M. 2011. “Heritage learners of Spanish: What role does metalinguistic knowledge play in their acquisition of the subjunctive”. In Selected proceedings of the 13th Hispanic linguistics symposium, L. Ortiz (ed.), 128–138. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Costa, A. 2005. “Lexical access in bilingual production” In The Handbook of Bilingualism, J.F. Kroll and A.M.B. de Groot (eds), 308–325. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Costa, A., Hernández, M. and Sebastián-Gallés, N. 2008. “Bilingualism aids in conflict resolution: Evidence from the ANT task”. Cognition 1061: 59–86. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T. and van Heuven, W.J.B. 1998. “The BIA model and bilingual word recognition”. In Localist connectionist approaches to human cognition, J. Grainger and A.M. Jacobs (eds), 189–225. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. 2002. “The architecture of the bilingual word recognition system: From identification to system”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 51: 175–197. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T., Timmermans, M.P.H. and Schriefers, H.J. 2000. “On being blinded by your other language: Effects of task demands on interlingual homograph recognition”. Journal of Memory and Language 42(4): 445–464. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duñabeitia, J.A., Perea, M. and Carreiras, M. 2010. “Masked translation priming effects with highly proficient simultaneous bilinguals”. Experimental Psychology 571: 98–107. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dussias, P.E. 2003. “Syntactic ambiguity resolution in L2 learners”. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 25(4): 529–557. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dussias, E.L. and Piñar, P. 2009. “Sentence parsing in L2 learners: Linguistic and experience-based factors”. In The new handbook of second language acquisition, W.C. Ritchie and T.K. Bathia (eds.), 295–318. Bingley: Emerald.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dussias, P.E and Sagarra, N. 2007. “The effect of exposure on syntactic parsing in Spanish–English bilinguals”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 10(1): 101–116. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ekiert, M. 2005. “The bilingual brain”. In Teachers College, Columbia University Working Papers In TESOL and Applied Linguistics 3(2).Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Emmorey, K., Luk, G., Pyers, J.E. and Bialystok, E. 2008. “The source of enhanced cognitive control in bilinguals: Evidence from bimodal bilinguals”. Psychological Science 191: 1201–1206. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fabbro, F. 2001. “The bilingual brain: Cerebral representation of languages”. Brain and Language 791: 211–222. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fan, J., McCandliss, B.D., Sommer, T., Raz, A. and Posner, M.I. 2002. “Testing the efficiency and independence of attentional networks”. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 14(3): 340–347. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Finkbeiner, M., Forster, K., Nicol, J. and Nakamura, K. 2004. “The role of polysemy in masked semantic and translation priming”. Journal of Memory and Language 51(1): 1–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Flege, J. 2009. “Give input a chance!” In Input matters in SLA, T. Piske and M. Young-Scholten (eds.), 175–190. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gerard, L.D. and Scarborough, D.L. 1989. “Language-specific lexical access of homographs by bilinguals”. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 15(2): 305–315. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gollan, T.H., Forster, K. and Frost, R. 1997. “Translation priming with different scripts: Masked priming with cognates and noncognates in Hebrew-English bilinguals”. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 231: 1122–1139. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grainger, J., Midgely, K. and Holcomb, P.J. 2010. “Re-thinking the bilingual interactive-activation model from a developmental perspective (BIA-d)”. In Language Acquisition across linguistic and cognitive systems, M. Kail and M. Hickmann (eds), 267–283. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Green, D.W. and Abutalebi, J. 2013. “Language control in bilinguals: the adaptive control hypothesis”. Journal of Cognitive Psychology 25(5): 515–530. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
de Groot, A.M.B., Delmaar, P. and Lupker, S.J. 2000. “The processing of interlexical homographs in translation recognition and lexical decision: Support for non-selective access to bilingual memory”. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. A Human Experimental Psychology 53A(2): 397–428. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hakuta, K., Bialystok, E. and Wiley, E. 2003. “Critical evidence: A test of the critical-period hypothesis for second-language acquisition”. Psychological Science 14(1): 31–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heidlmayr, K., Moutier, S., Hemforth, B., Courin, C., Tanzmeister, R. and Isel, F. 2014. “Successive bilingualism and executive functions: The effect of second language use on inhibitory control in a behavioural Stroop Colour Word task”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 17(3): 630–645. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hernandez, A., & Li, P. 2007. “Age of acquisition: Its neural and computational mechanisms”. Psychological Bulletin 1331: 638–650. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hernández, M., Costa, A., Fuentes, L.J., Vivas, A.B. and Sebastián-Gallés, N. 2010. “The impact of bilingualism on the executive control and orienting networks of attention”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 13(3): 315–325. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hilchey, M.D. and Klein, R.M. 2011. “Are there bilingual advantages on nonlinguistic interference tasks? Implications for the plasticity of executive control processes”. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review 181: 625–658. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ibrahim, R. 2009. “Selective deficit of second language: A case of Arabic-Hebrew bilingual brain-damaged patient”. Behavioral and Brain Function 5(17): 1–10. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kennedy, D. and Normal, C. 2005. “What don’t we know?” Science 3091: 5731. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kousaie, S. and Phillips, N.A. 2012. “Aging and bilingualism: Absence of a “bilingual advantage” in Stroop interference in a non-immigrant sample”. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 65(2): 356–369. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kroll, J.F., Bobb, S.C. and Wodniecka, Z. 2006. “Language selectivity is the exception, not the rule. Arguments against a fixed locus of language selection in bilingual speech”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 9(2): 119–135. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kroll, J.F., van Hell, J.G., Tokowicz, N. and Green, D.W. 2010. “The revised hierarchical model: A critical review and assessment”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 13(3): 373–381. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kroll, J.F. and Stewart, E. 1994. “Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations”. Journal of Memory and Language 331: 149–174. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lapierre, M., Sabourin, L., Burkholder, M., Brien, C. & Leclerc, J-C. 2015. “The language background questionnaire in the Canadian context”. Poster presented at the 10th International Symposium on Bilingualism , New Brunswick, New Jersey.
Li, L.I., Mo, L.E.I., Wang, R., Luo, X. and Chen, Z.H.E. 2009. “Evidence for long-term cross-language repetition priming in low fluency Chinese/English bilinguals”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 12(1): 13–21. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Linck, J.A., Kroll, J.F. and Sunderman, G. 2009. “Losing access to the native language while immersed in a second language”. Psychological Science 201: 1507–1515. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luk, G., De Sa, E. and Bialystok, E. 2011. “Is there a relation between onset age of bilingualism and enhancement of cognitive control?” Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14(4): 588–595. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marian, V. and Spivey, M. 2003. “Competing activation in bilingual language processing: Within- and between-language competition”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 12(1): 13–21.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martin-Rhee, M.M. and Bialystok, E. 2008. “The development of two types of inhibitory control in monolingual and bilingual children”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 111: 81–93. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paap, K.R. and Greenberg, Z.I. 2013. “There is no coherent evidence for a bilingual advantage in executive processing”. Cognitive Psychology 66(2): 232–258. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paap, K.R., Johnson, H.A. and Sawi, O. 2014. “Are bilingual advantages dependent upon specific tasks or specific bilingual experiences?” Journal of Cognitive Psychology 26(6): 615–639. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Paradis, M. 2001. “Bilingual and polyglot aphasia”. In Handbook of Neuropsychology, R.S. Berndt (ed.), 69–91. Oxford, UK: Elsevier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pelham, S.D. and Abrams, L. 2014. “Cognitive advantages and disadvantages in early and late bilinguals”. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition 40(2): 313–325. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pliatsikas, C. and Marinis, T. 2013. “Processing empty categories in a second language. When naturalistic exposure fills the (intermediate) gap”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 161: 167–182. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rastle, K., Davis, M.H., Marslen-Wilson, W.D. and Tyler, L.K. 2000. “Morphological and semantic effects in visual word recognition: A time-course study”. Language and Cognitive Processes 151: 507–537. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Reiterer, S.M., Pareda, E. and Bhattacharya, J. 2009. “Measuring second language proficiency with EEG synchronization: how functional cortical network and hemispheric involvement differ as a function of proficiency level in second language speakers”. Second Language Research 25(1): 77–106. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sabourin, L., Brien, C. and Burkholder, M. 2014a. “The effect of age of L2 acquisition on the organization of the bilingual lexicon: Evidence from masked priming”. Bilingualism: Language & Cognition, 17(3): 542–555. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sabourin, L., Leclerc, J-C., Burkholder, M. and Brien, C. 2014b. “Bilingual lexical organization: Is there a sensitive period?”. Proceedings of the 2014 annual conference of the Canadian Linguistics Association . Available at [URL]
Sabourin, L., Leclerc, J-C., Lapierre, M., Burkholder, M., & Brien, C. 2016. “The language background questionnaire in L2 research: Teasing apart the variables”. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Canadian Linguistics Association , Calgary, Canada.
Sabourin, L. and Vīnerte, S. 2015. “The bilingual advantage in the Stroop task: Simultaneous vs. early bilinguals”. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 18(2): 350–355. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Silverberg, S. and Samuel, A.G. 2004. “The effect of age of second language acquisition on the representation and processing of second language words”. Journal of Memory and Language 511: 381–398. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Soares, C. and Grosjean, F. 1984. “Bilinguals in a monolingual and a bilingual speech mode: The effect on lexical access”. Memory and Cognition 12(4): 380–386. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tao, L., Marzecová, A., Taft, M., Asanowicz, D. and Wodniecka, Z. 2011. “The efficiency of attentional networks in early and late bilinguals: The role of age of acquisition”. Frontiers in Psychology 21: 1–19. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tremblay, A. 2011. “Proficiency assessment standards in second language acquisition research: “Clozing” the gap”. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 331: 339–372. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vīnerte, S., & Sabourin, L. 2015. “Bilingualism and cognitive control: The ANT in a Canadian context”. Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Conference of the Canadian Linguistics Association . Available at:[URL]
Wartenburger, I., Heekeren, H.R., Abutalebi, J., Cappa, S.F., Villringer, A. and Perani, D. 2003. “Early setting of grammatical processing in the bilingual brain”. Neuron 371: 159–170. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weber-Fox, C.M. and Neville, H.J. 1996. “Maturational constraints on functional specializations for language processing: ERP and behavioral evidence in bilingual speakers”. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 81: 231–256. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wu, Y.J. and Thierry, G. 2013. “Fast modulation of executive function by language context in bilinguals”. Journal of Neuroscience 33(33): 13533–13537. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Ohi, Sarah & Paia Ingram
2022. Preparing I-Kiribati for the future: probing the English language research-policy nexus in Kiribati education in the South Pacific. Asia Pacific Journal of Education 42:3 ► pp. 478 ff. DOI logo
Kalashnikova, Marina, Paola Escudero & Evan Kidd
2018. The development of fast‐mapping and novel word retention strategies in monolingual and bilingual infants. Developmental Science 21:6 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 9 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue