Abstract
How do bilingual readers of languages that have similar scripts identify a language switch? Recent behavioral and electroencephalographic results suggest that they rely on orthotactic cues to recognize the language of the words they read in ambiguous contexts. Previous research has shown that marked words with language-specific letter sequences (i.e., letter sequences that are illegal in one of the two languages) are recognized more easily and faster than unmarked words. The aim of this study was to investigate sensitivity to markedness throughout childhood and early adulthood by using a speeded language decision task with words and pseudowords. A large group of Spanish-Basque bilinguals of different ages (children, preteenagers, teenagers and adults) was tested. Results showed a markedness effect in the second language across all age groups that changed with age. However, sensitivity to markedness in the native language was negligible. We conclude that sensitivity to orthotactics does not follow parallel developmental trend in the first and second language.
Highlights
How do bilingual readers identify a language switch? In most bilingual environments, readers can find different cues that help them to recognize a language and access word meaning
The Markedness × Language × Age interaction was significant, showing that the markedness effect was different for Basque and Spanish, and that it was modulated by the age of the readers (F(1,110.78) = 8.79, p < 0.01)
Results provided a better understanding of developmental stages, showing that sensitivity to markedness changed for the second language (Basque), while changes in the first language (Spanish) were limited to unknown words
Summary
How do bilingual readers identify a language switch? Readers can find different cues that help them to recognize a language and access word meaning. Languages with different alphabets (e.g., Greek and Spanish) offer an extreme example: the dissimilar scripts themselves provide enough information to differentiate between languages. This is not the case for many language pairs. Italian and Spanish are typologically very similar and share the same alphabet. Readers have difficulties in determining the language of each individual word. Research on visual word recognition with same-script language combinations may help identify what characteristics of such words help with bilingual language selection and recognition
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
