Chapter 13. Cognitive foundations of crosslinguistic influence

Most previous research on crosslinguistic influence (CLI) has focused on the linguistic consequences of CLI, but researchers have also begun to investigate the cognitive processes through which it occurs. This chapter is a state-of-the-art review of empirical research that has examined the cognitive and conceptual factors that account for performance differences between individuals who differ in terms of the specific combinations of languages they know. The chapter is divided into three main sections. The first deals with the cognitive consequences of acquiring languages beyond the first, the second with the relationship between crosslinguistic similarity, executive control, and memory, and the final section deals with how the conceptual structures acquired through one language can affect a person’s use of another language.