Abstract
In the present study we investigated a corollary of the multicompetence hypothesis as a description of language representation in bilingualism. According to this hypothesis, bilingualism entails a state of linguistic knowledge that does not correspond either to L1 or L2 norms. Previous studies examining online language processing of sentences in Portuguese that simulated argument structures constructions of English have shown a departure from the restrictions of the L1 grammar (Portuguese), which supports the multicompetence hypothesis. The purpose of this study was to explore whether such departure from the L1 would be observed in a psycholinguistic task that taps bilinguals' intentional attention focus on the form of linguistic expressions in their L1, therefore depicting L1 metalinguistic awareness. The results reveal that the bilingualism effects detected during real time sentence processing do not extend to metalinguistic awareness, therefore suggesting that such effects are evanescent, and most likely implicit in nature.
Highlights
In the present study we investigated a corollary of the multicompetence hypothesis as a description of language representation in bilingualism
Aside from its role in science, technology and foreign trade, there’s evidence that the spread of English through media has impacts on its strengthening as a common luently spoken second language at least in some regions of the world (Berns et al, 2007). his present study aims at contributing to the understanding of the psycholinguistic processes that characterize Brazilian Portuguese-English bilinguals residing in Brazil. his is a bilingual population typically formed by late second language acquirers who intentionally seek opportunities to learn the second language, possibly difering from bilingual populations formed by individuals who are circumstantially brought to language contact settings, some since early infancy
In studies that examined performance in the native language (Portuguese), Brazilian PortugueseEnglish bilinguals of high L2 proiciency have been demonstrated to perform tasks tapping the cost of online processing of argument structure constructions anomalous in their L1 but licensed in their L2 in ways that suggest some degree of similarity to the behavior among English L1 speakers (Souza, 2012; Souza, 2014; Fernández & Souza, 2016)
Summary
As argued by Grosjean (2013), far from being an exceptional state of afairs, bilingualism seems to be the norm all over the world. his is especially true if one considers contact between English and languages other than English. He multicompetence hypothesis predicts modiied knowledge and processing of both L1 and L2, departing from both Such modiication is compatible with the point of view that the mental representations for the languages of bilinguals can become integrated at least in speciic aspects and levels of linguistic organization (Li, 2013), leading to continued access and some activation of an unintended language while the other is being processed. In studies that examined performance in the native language (Portuguese), Brazilian PortugueseEnglish bilinguals of high L2 proiciency have been demonstrated to perform tasks tapping the cost of online processing of argument structure constructions anomalous in their L1 but licensed in their L2 in ways that suggest some degree of similarity to the behavior among English L1 speakers (Souza, 2012; Souza, 2014; Fernández & Souza, 2016). In the conclusion we make considerations about the signiicance of our indings and the future directions we envisage
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