Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests that language switching is a distinct form of bilingual language control that engages cognitive control. The most relevant and widely discussed framework is the Adaptive Control Hypothesis. This theoretical framework identifies language switching to be a key aspect of bilingual language control. It proposes that bilinguals’ engagement in three different types of interactional contexts (single-language context, dual-language context, and dense code-switching context) confers adaptive effects on cognitive control processes. These contexts differ in the presence of both languages and how language control is exercised. The model makes predictions about behavioral outcomes associated with these contexts. This study is a novel attempt to test for the model’s assumptions, predictions, and its interactional contexts. It seeks to examine the relationship between language switching behaviors, reported bilingual interactional contexts, and verbal and non-verbal cognitive control through this theoretical framework. Seventy-four English–Mandarin young adult bilinguals were measured on their self-reported engagements in the different interactional contexts and production of word and sentential language switches through experimental language switching tasks (alternating, semi-cued, and uncued switching). Cognitive control processes in verbal and non-verbal goal maintenance, interference control, selective response inhibition, and task engagement and disengagement were measured. Overall, partial support for the model was observed. Higher reported engagement in the dual-language context was positively but not uniquely related to cognitive engagement and disengagement on verbal tasks. Non-verbal goal maintenance and interference control, on the other hand, were related to uncued inter-sentential language switching. However, the distinction of the model’s three interactional contexts might not be evident in a multilingual society, as findings suggest that there is fluidity in bilinguals’ interactional contexts. Current findings reveal the complex interaction of language switching with distinct domains and cognitive control processes. This study is significant in testing an influential bilingual language control model.

Highlights

  • Language switching is a distinctive capability that reflects crosslinguistic activation and a systematic control of two languages (Kroll et al, 2015)

  • The aim of the current study is to examine the effects of language switching engagements, based on predictions derived from the Adaptive Control Hypothesis framework (Green and Abutalebi, 2013)

  • This study aims to address the following three questions: Research Question 1 (RQ1): Do bilinguals vary in their engagement in the three interactional contexts described by the ACH?

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Summary

Introduction

Language switching is a distinctive capability that reflects crosslinguistic activation and a systematic control of two languages (Kroll et al, 2015). Differences in language-switching practices have been found to be associated with cognitive control processes such as monitoring and switching (e.g., Costa et al, 2009; Soveri et al, 2011; Hartanto and Yang, 2016; Verreyt et al, 2016; Henrard and van Daele, 2017; Barbu et al, 2018) These findings lend increasing evidence in demonstrating language switching to be a distinct form of bilingual language control that necessitates and engages non-linguistic cognitive control operations. The relationship between language switching and cognitive control has been discussed more thoroughly in a theoretical framework, known as the Adaptive Control Hypothesis (ACH, Green and Abutalebi, 2013) Central to this framework, language switching is argued to be a significant aspect of bilingual language control that implicates non-verbal cognitive control processes in its engagements. It proposes that neural and cognitive control adaptations are involved through the types of interactional contexts (recurrent patterns of conversational exchange) that bilinguals primarily engage in on a day-to-day basis

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