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In:Multilingual Cognition and Language Use: Processing and typological perspectives
Edited by Luna Filipović and Martin Pütz
[Human Cognitive Processing 44] 2014
► pp. 205–228

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Efficiency of the bilingual mind

Clues from processing, memory, and second language acquisition studies

Published online: 10 June 2014
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https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.44.08fil
Multiple factors operate when a bilingual mind processes and stores information and they operate in unison, sometimes cooperating and sometimes competing. The central argument in this chapter is that it is the inherent drive for efficiency in communication that underlies interactions among these factors. The support for this argument is drawn from an eclectic array of empirical investigations into bilingual processing, memory retrieval, and language acquisition. The efficiency argument helps answer some pertinent questions in the field, such as when and why we can expect language transfer. The need for considering both naturalistic (corpus or elicited) and experimental data is highlighted together with the benefits of combining typological insights into language contrasts with psycholinguistic findings about language processing.
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