Measures of performance difference in verbal fluency in Bengali-English bilingual and English monolingual speakers

Abstract

We investigated the contribution of linguistic and executive control processes in verbal fluency performance for young healthy Bengali-English bilingual and English monolingual speakers. We collected verbal fluency data, executive control data and detailed background measures to characterize each participant. This dataset contains the transcribed one-minute verbal fluency data from semantic fluency trials (animals, fruits and vegetables, and clothing) and letter fluency trials (F, A, S) in English from 25 Bengali-English bilinguals and 25 English monolinguals. The verbal fluency task was collected using audio recorder, later transcribed orthographically. Demographic information and vocabulary testing data were collected using paper and pen tasks. Information on bilingualism was assessed through questionnaires for bilingual participants. Executive control tasks were assessed using computer based tasked and were programmed and delivered using E-Prime. The groups were matched for receptive vocabulary, age, education and non-verbal intelligence. The dataset includes six datasheets. They include following data and their codes: 1) demographic details for each participant (age, sex, education) along with their background measures on vocabulary and IQ, executive control tasks (Stroop, task switching task, and backward digit span); 2) details of bilingual language profiles for bilingual participants; 3) time-stamped verbal fluency data for each item for every trial for each individual participant; and 4) mean values of several verbal fluency measures (e.g., clustering and switching analysis, time course analysis). These data could be used by future researchers to answer their specific questions regarding verbal fluency performances amongst different language users (e.g., monolinguals vs. bilinguals) as well as cognitive and linguistic underpinnings of the task (e.g., executive control measures, bilingualism measures, vocabulary measures). Dataset accompanying the paper entitled: Patra A, Bose A, Marinis T (2019). Performance difference in verbal fluency in bilingual and monolingual speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728918001098