Abstract
In this study, I report three experiments that examined whether words from one language of bilinguals can use the syntactic features form the other language, and how such syntactic co-activation might influence syntactic processing. In other words, I examined whether there are any cases in which an inherent syntactic feature a lexical item is inhibited and the syntactic feature that belongs to the other language is used, instead. In the non-switch condition in Experiments 1 and 2, Persian-English bilinguals described pictures using an adjective–noun string from the same language requested. In the switch condition, they used a noun and an adjective from the other language. In the switch condition in Experiment 3, participants used only the adjective of a noun phrase from the other language. The results showed that bilinguals may inhibit the activation of a word’s syntactic feature and use the syntactic property from the other language, instead [e.g., pirāhane (shirt-N) black]. As the combinatorial node (the node that specifies different kinds of syntactic structures in which a word can be used) of a used adjective retains activation at least temporarily, bilinguals are more likely to use the same combinatorial node even with an adjective from the other language. Cross-language syntactic interference increased in the switch conditions. Moreover, more inappropriate responses were observed when switching from bilinguals’ L2 to L1. The results also revealed that different experimental contexts may lead to different patterns of the control mechanism. The results will be interpreted in terms of Hartsuiker and Pickering’s (2008) model of syntactic representation.
Highlights
Code-switching (CS) is defined as a change from one language of a bilingual speaker to another in the same utterance or conversation (Hamers and Blanc, 1989)
The results indicated that both languages are co-activated in bilingual language production and that bilingual speakers may use the grammar of one language and the word from the other language
The results indicated that bilingual speakers may use a word from one language and the grammar from the other language
Summary
Code-switching (CS) is defined as a change from one language of a bilingual speaker to another in the same utterance or conversation (Hamers and Blanc, 1989). CS is a common language phenomenon that occurs in bilinguals’ speech production. ‘Where is that blue cloth?’ Arias and Lakshmanan Studies on CS can help psycholinguists, for instance, find whether one of the two languages is deactivated while the other language is being activated, and “how incoming signals are channeled to their appropriate decoding system for interpretation (e.g., input switch)” Studies on CS can help psycholinguists, for instance, find whether one of the two languages is deactivated while the other language is being activated, and “how incoming signals are channeled to their appropriate decoding system for interpretation (e.g., input switch)” (Paradis, 1993, p. 135)
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