Processing Code-Switching in Algerian Bilinguals: Effects of Language Use and Semantic Expectancy.

Souad Kheder,Edith Kaan

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00248

Abstract

Using a cross-modal naming paradigm this study investigated the effect of sentence constraint and language use on the expectancy of a language switch during listening comprehension. Sixty-five Algerian bilinguals who habitually code-switch between Algerian Arabic and French (AA-FR) but not between Standard Arabic and French (SA-FR) listened to sentence fragments and named a visually presented French target NP out loud. Participants’ speech onset times were recorded. The sentence context was either highly semantically constraining toward the French NP or not. The language of the sentence context was either in Algerian Arabic or in Standard Arabic, but the target NP was always in French, thus creating two code-switching contexts: a typical and recurrent code-switching context (AA-FR) and a non-typical code-switching context (SA-FR). Results revealed a semantic constraint effect indicating that the French switches were easier to process in the high compared to the low-constraint context. In addition, the effect size of semantic constraint was significant in the more typical code-switching context (AA-FR) suggesting that language use influences the processing of switching between languages. The effect of semantic constraint was also modulated by code-switching habits and the proficiency of L2 French. Semantic constraint was reduced in bilinguals who frequently code-switch and in bilinguals with high proficiency in French. Results are discussed with regards to the bilingual interactive activation model (Dijkstra and Van Heuven, 2002) and the control process model of code-switching (Green and Wei, 2014).

Highlights

Some bilingual speakers may daily interact in a context where similar speakers use both languages in the same conversation or even in the same utterance of speech
Accurate responses were distributed across the four conditions: Algerian Arabic high-constraint: Arabic high-constraint context (AAH) (98%); Standard Arabic high-constraint: Standard Arabic high-constraint context (SAH) (99%), Algerian Arabic low-constraint: Arabic low-constraint context (AAL) (99%); Standard Arabic low-constraint: Standard Arabic low-constraint context (SAL) (98%)
We sought to examine the effect of language use and semantic constraints on the expectancy of a language switch during listening comprehension in Algerian bilingual speakers

Summary

Introduction

Some bilingual speakers may daily interact in a context where similar speakers use both languages in the same conversation or even in the same utterance of speech. This type of interaction is usually known as code-switching (CS). During code-switching, bilinguals may be listening to an utterance that starts in their first language (L1) but may or may not end in that same language depending on the speaker’s speech planning (e.g., Kroll and Gollan, 2014). While the choice of code-switching is made by the speaker, this choice may still impact the listener. We know from studies which tested bilingual speakers during reading in L1 or in L2 that the semantic

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