Spanish-Catalan Bilinguals Research Articles

Differential Object Marking in Structurally Complex Contexts in Spanish: Evidence from Bilingual and Monolingual Processing

This study examines whether Differential Object Marking (DOM) realization and word order in relative clauses (RCs) in Spanish affect processing and interpretation among monolinguals and highly proficient Catalan–Spanish bilinguals. RCs are parallel in Catalan and Spanish, but DOM is much more restricted in Catalan than in Spanish, and, interestingly, the distinction between subject and object RCs relies mainly on the presence/absence of DOM. To examine DOM optionality, we concentrate on the top portion of the animacy scale and test the human/non-human contrast. Exploring these two populations allows us to test whether they resort to different strategies for the following three reasons: (1) bilingualism places an increased burden on memory processes); (2) the partial overlap between both DOM systems might lead to the influence from Catalan into Spanish); and (3) optionality has been proposed to characterize bilingual grammars). Findings from a word-by-word non-cumulative self-paced reading task showed that DOM modulates RC processing. With [+human] obligatorily marked objects, both monolinguals and bilinguals read subject RCs faster than object RCs, suggesting a strategy favoring subject RCs. However, monolinguals solved the interpretation early while processing but bilinguals, despite the more restricted DOM character of Catalan, are sensitive to DOM albeit displaying delayed spill-over effects. With [−human] optionally marked objects, bilinguals performed faster than monolinguals. We suggest that the uneven experience with DOM in Catalan, particularly with the non-standard variety that frequently displays DOM and that our bilinguals also speak in everyday conversations, facilitates bilinguals’ adaptation to the optional marking of non-human objects in Spanish, much in the same manner that they accommodate the presence or absence of DOM with both human and non-human objects in other native language.

Grammatical correction and morphological productivity tasks as potential identifiers of developmental language disorder in Spanish-Catalan bilingual children: a pilot study

ABSTRACT A critical problem for Catalan-Spanish bilinguals is the lack of assessment tools to conduct valid and accurate oral language evaluations. The purpose of this preliminary study was to provide pilot data for a new potential assessment tool in Catalan. We examined the possibility that two novel tasks, a grammatical correction (GramCorr) and morphological productivity (MP; nonword and word subtasks), could differentiate between Catalan-speaking children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD) with good diagnostic accuracy. Twenty-seven school-aged children with DLD (M age = 9;1 years) and twenty-seven age/sex-matched typically developing (TD) children (M age = 9;0 years) participated in the study. Group differences and diagnostic accuracy analyses (sensitivity and specificity and likelihood ratios) were conducted. Results showed that the overall accuracy of children with DLD was significantly poorer than that of the TD controls in the two tasks. The preliminary diagnostic accuracy results suggested that the overall test (GramCorr+MP) could be useful in identifying children with DLD (cut-off point 62.1%; sensitivity (.929)/specificity (.893); +LH (8.67)/-LH (0.80). Moreover, the overall MP task (nonword + word subtasks; cut-off point 60%; sensitivity (.897)/specificity (.931), +LH (13.00)/-LH (0.111)) appears to provide adequate information to help in detecting DLD. The nature of both tasks, their usefulness for practitioners and future steps in the design of valid tools for the identification of Catalan speaking children with DLD are discussed.

Detailing the impact of social variables on the production of the Catalan mid-vowel contrasts by early Spanish-Catalan bilinguals

Detailing the impact of social variables on the production of the Catalan mid-vowel contrasts by early Spanish-Catalan bilinguals

Meanness trumps language: Lack of foreign language effect in early bilinguals' moral choices.

Moral decision-making is influenced by various factors, including personality and language. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated the Foreign-Language effect (FLe) in early, highly proficient, Catalan-Spanish bilinguals and examined the role of several personality dimensions in their responses to moral dilemmas. We obtained a multilevel data structure with 766 valid trials from 52 Catalan-dominant undergraduate students who read and responded anonymously to a computerized task with 16 standardized moral dilemmas, half in Catalan and half in Spanish. Results of a multilevel multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that consistent with previous research, participants gave more utilitarian responses to impersonal than personal dilemmas. The language of the dilemma had no effect on the response (dichotomous: utilitarian vs. deontological), decision time, or affective ratings, contradicting the hypothesis of shallower emotional processing of the information in the second language. Interestingly, cruelty features of psychopathy were significantly associated with an enhanced proportion of utilitarian decisions irrespective of the language or the nature of the dilemmas. Furthermore, cruelty features interacted with participants' assessment of dilemma aspects like vividness and verisimilitude. Overall, our findings suggest that early bilinguals immersed in a dual-language context using close Romance languages do not show the FLe and that personality traits like cruelty can modulate moral decisions regardless of language or dilemma type.

Cross-language interference in bilinguals with neurodegenerative disorders

AbstractThe aim of the study is to explore the differential effects of neurodegenerative disorders on cross-language interference and facilitation, by comparing the performance in a bilingual Stroop task of Catalan–Spanish bilinguals with different neurodegenerative disorders [Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), n = 16; Alzheimer's disease (AD), n = 16; and Parkinson's disease (PD), n = 16)] and healthy controls (n = 14). Interference is the difference in naming latencies between the incongruent (colour words not matching with their ink colour) and control (non-colour words) conditions. Facilitation is the difference between the control and congruent conditions (colour words matching with their ink colour).The results showed that AD and MCI patients, but not PD, showed a larger interference effect than healthy controls. Nevertheless, the patient groups showed the same facilitation effect as healthy controls.The contribution of cortical and subcortical brain areas to cross-language interference suppression is discussed in relation to the type of brain degeneration.

Are Translation Equivalents Always Activated When Bilinguals Perform a Task in One of Their Languages? Behavioral and ERP Evidence of the Role of the Task.

This study investigates the extent to which highly proficient Spanish-Catalan bilinguals activate Spanish translation equivalents when they are presented with Catalan words. Participants performed a translation recognition task (Experiment 1) or a primed lexical decision task (Experiment 2) where the relationship between the first presented (Catalan) word and the second presented (Spanish) word was manipulated. Semantic and form relationships between the first and the second words were examined. Semantic relatedness produced a behavioral interference effect in the translation recognition task and a facilitation effect in the primed lexical decision task. The semantic manipulation also affected the N400 component. Form relatedness produced a behavioral interference effect only in the translation recognition task, which was accompanied by a modulation of the LPC component. In contrast, there were no effects of the formal manipulation in the primed lexical decision task. These results, which are discussed in relation to the revised hierarchical model (RHM), suggest that activation of translation equivalents is a by-product of the type of task.

Factors Affecting Pronunciation Accuracy in English as a Foreign Language: The Case of Spanish-Catalan Intermediate Learners

In the present study, we investigate the factors that influence pronunciation accuracy by Spanish-Catalan bilinguals learning English as a foreign language (EFL). A group of intermediate EFL learners were recorded producing a series of cognate and non-cognate words in two different conditions: a reading aloud task and a delayed repetition task. In the reading aloud task, the target words were presented as visual prompts in a carrier phrase. In the delayed repetition, words were presented aurally and participants repeated them after a two-second delay followed by an audio prompt. The words were phonemically transcribed using PHON. As expected, task condition and cognate-status influenced the percentage of correct vowels and consonants. The number of errors was significantly higher in the reading aloud condition than in the delayed repetition condition. Cognates exhibited more pronunciation errors than non-cognates. In contrast, learners’ vocabulary-size and lexical frequency did not have a clear impact on the results. These findings suggest that focusing on spelling might interfere with the way EFL learners process the phonological forms of words.

Demonstrative systems: From linguistic typology to social cognition

This study explores the connection between language and social cognition by empirically testing different typological analyses of various demonstrative systems. Linguistic typology classifies demonstrative systems as distance-oriented or person-oriented, depending on whether they indicate the location of a referent relative only to the speaker, or to both the speaker and the listener. From the perspective of social cognition, speakers of languages with person-oriented systems must monitor their listener’s spatial location in order to accurately use their demonstratives, while speakers of languages with distance-oriented systems can use demonstratives from their own, egocentric perspective. Resolving an ongoing controversy around the nature of the Spanish demonstrative system, the results of Experiment 1 confirmed that this demonstrative system is person oriented, while the English system is distance oriented. Experiment 2 revealed that not all three-way demonstrative systems are person oriented, with Japanese speakers showing sensitivity to the listener’s spatial location, while Turkish speakers did not show such an effect in their demonstrative choice. In Experiment 3, Catalan-Spanish bilinguals showed sensitivity to listener position in their choice of the Spanish distal form, but not in their choice of the medial form. These results were interpreted as a transfer effect from Catalan, which revealed analogous results to English. Experiment 4 investigated the use of demonstratives to redirect a listener’s attention to the intended referent, which is a universal function of demonstratives that also hinges on social cognition. Japanese and Spanish speakers chose between their proximal and distal demonstratives flexibly, depending on whether the listener was looking closer or further from the referent, whereas Turkish speakers chose their medial form for attention correction. In conclusion, the results of this study support the view that investigating how speakers of different languages jointly use language and social cognition in communication has the potential to unravel the deep connection between these two fundamentally human capacities.

The sandwich effect in L3 acquisition: A look at the Catalan and Spanish grammars of highly advanced speakers of L3 English

Aims and objectives: This study examines the extent to which the acquisition of a highly advanced third language (L3) will affect previously (early) acquired languages. We directly test the main tenets of the differential stability hypothesis. Design/method/approach: We test 72 Catalan–Spanish bilinguals divided across four groups using two dimensions: (a) order of acquisition and (b) proficiency/exposure in L3 English. We administered two self-paced reading tasks (one in Catalan and the other in Spanish) to explore their processing of negative concord items. Data analysis: Using generalized linear mixed-effects models, we analysed the effect English had on the processing of negative concord items in Catalan and Spanish in three different conditions of interest. Findings/conclusions: The results partially confirm the tenets of the differential stability hypothesis (DSH). We show that first language (L1) and second language (L2) are differentially affected by the acquisition of an L3. We further show that there are different degrees of vulnerability for different syntactic contexts in an L2. We propose a novel effect in the study of L3 regressive effects that can complement the tenets of the DSH: the sandwich effect in L3 acquisition. Originality: The study provides the first empirical investigation of the tenets of the DSH. Significance/implications: This study offers a new effect in L3 acquisition and we put forward how we can test it and propose new directions to explore regressive transfer effects.

Crosslinguistic influence from Catalan and Yucatec Maya on judgments and processing of Spanish focus

Abstract Although a bilingual’s knowledge of one language can affect the other, crosslinguistic influence (CLI) is constrained: certain domains, such as the syntax-discourse interface, are more likely to be affected. Linguists have debated CLI’s nature and cause: the Structural Overlap Hypothesis identifies surface overlap between the languages as the key factor determining CLI, while the Interface Hypothesis highlights the role of processing overloads. Our study presents evidence from processing and judgments of a syntax-discourse interface property – information focus – in the Spanish of Yucatecan Spanish monolinguals, Yucatec Maya-Spanish bilinguals, and Catalan-Spanish bilinguals. The comparison across language dyads that realize information focus in different ways allows us to test predictions for language-specific effects of CLI. Using a forced-choice task to measure offline sentence preferences and a self-paced reading task to measure real-time processing, we find (i) language-specific CLI for Yucatec Maya bilinguals but (ii) no CLI for Catalan bilinguals and (iii) no significant differences in real-time processing. We conclude that these results provide partial support for the Structural Overlap Hypothesis but do not align with the Interface Hypothesis. We also examine the role of language dominance on CLI but find no such effects.

The source of attention modulations in bilingual language contexts

Bilinguals who switch from a monolingual context to a bilingual context enhance their domain-general attentional system. But what drives the adaptation process and translates into the observed increased efficiency of the attentional system? To uncover the origin of the plasticity in a bilingual’s language experience, we investigated whether switching between other types of categories also modulated domain-general attentional processes. We compared performance of Catalan-Spanish bilinguals across three experiments in which participants performed the Attentional Network Test in a mixed context and in two single contexts that were created by interleaving words with flankers. The contexts were related to switching (or not) between languages (Experiment-1) or between low-level perceptual color categories (Experiment-2) or between linguistic categories (Experiment-3). Both switching between languages and linguistic categories revealed increased target-P3 amplitudes in mixed contexts compared to single contexts. These findings can inform the Inhibitory Control model regarding the locus and domain-generality of attentional adaptations.

Disentangling the Role of Deviant Letter Position on Cognate Word Processing.

The way of coding letter position has been extensively assessed during the recognition of native words, leading to the development of a new generation of models that assume more flexible letter position coding schemes compared to classical computational models such as the interactive activation (IA) model. However, determining whether similar letter position encoding mechanisms occur during the bilingual word recognition has been largely less explored despite its implications for the leading model of bilingual word recognition (multilink) as it assumes the input-coding scheme of the IA model. In this study, we aimed to examine this issue through the manipulation of the position of the deviant letter of cognate words (external and internal letters). Two experiments were conducted with Catalan–Spanish bilinguals (a masked priming lexical decision task and a two-alternative forced-choice task) and their respective monolingual controls. The results revealed a differential processing for the first letter in comparison to the other letters as well as modulations as a function of language cue, suggesting amendments to the input-coding scheme of the multilink model.

Indirectstructural crosslinguistic influence in early Catalan–Spanish bilinguals in adulthood: Predicate selection in Catalan existential constructions

AbstractThis study reports an oral production experiment investigating the expression of existentiality in the Catalan of adult Catalan–Spanish early bilinguals (N= 58) with comparable proficiencies but different language dominance. The results show qualitative differences among the bilinguals in existential predicate selection and in their supply of partitive pronouns, modulated by language dominance. Balanced Bilinguals as well as Spanish-dominant bilinguals significantly produced moreestar(in detriment ofser-hiandhaver-hi) not only in locative contexts, where Catalan already presents optionality regulated by semantic differences, but also in existential constructions, where this optionality does not exist. We argue forindirectcrosslinguistic influence (CLI), when the bilingualperceivescertain structural overlap within constructions, mediating the influence from one structure to another one and expanding the limits of CLI. The qualitative differences found among bilinguals challenge the idea of a bilingualism continuum in Catalan–Spanish bilingualism with an identical mental representation.

Differences in word learning in children: Bilingualism or linguistic experience?

AbstractThe current study examines how monolingual children and bilingual children with languages that are orthotactically similar and dissimilar learn novel words depending on their characteristics. We contrasted word learning for words that violate or respect the orthotactic legality of bilinguals’ languages investigating the impact of the similarity between those two languages. In Experiment 1, three groups of children around the age of 12 were tested: monolinguals, Spanish–Basque bilinguals (orthotactically dissimilar languages), and Spanish–Catalan bilinguals (orthotactically similar languages). After an initial word-learning phase, they were tested in a recognition task. While Spanish monolinguals and Spanish–Catalan bilingual children recognized illegal words worse than legal words, Spanish–Basque bilingual children showed equal performance in learning illegal and legal patterns. In Experiment 2, a replication study was conducted with two new groups of Spanish–Basque children (one group with high Basque proficiency and one group with a lower proficiency) and results indicated that the effects were not driven by the proficiency in the second language, as a similar performance on legal and illegal patterns was observed in both groups. These findings suggest that word learning is not affected by bilingualism as such, but rather depends on the specific language combinations spoken by the bilinguals.

Asymmetry and Directionality in Catalan–Spanish Contact: Intervocalic Fricatives in Barcelona and Valencia

Multilingual communities often exhibit asymmetry in directionality by which the majority language exerts greater influence on the minority language. In the case of Spanish in contact with Catalan, the asymmetry of directionality, favoring stronger influence of Spanish as a majority language over Catalan, is complicated by the unique sociolinguistic statuses afforded to different varieties of Catalan. In order to empirically substantiate the social underpinnings of directionality in language contact settings, the present study examines the variable voicing and devoicing of intervocalic alveolar fricatives in Spanish, Barcelonan Catalan, and Valencian Catalan as processes that are historically endogenous and equally linguistically motivated in both languages. Intervocalic fricatives in both languages were elicited using a phrase-list reading task, alongside sociolinguistic interviews for attitudinal data, administered to 96 Catalan–Spanish bilinguals stratified by gender, age, and language dominance in Barcelona and Valencia, Spain. Patterns of sociolinguistic stratification consistent with community-level changes in progress favoring either Catalan-like voicing or Spanish-like devoicing varied by community, with a stronger influence of Catalan on Spanish in Barcelona and Spanish on Catalan in Valencia. These asymmetries, corroborated by attitudinal differences afforded to Catalan and Spanish in Barcelona and Valencia, ultimately reinforce the role of social factors in language contact outcomes.

Voluntary Language Switching in the Context of Bilingual Aphasia.

As studies of bilingual language control (BLC) seek to explore the underpinnings of bilinguals’ abilities to juggle two languages, different types of language switching tasks have been used to uncover switching and mixing effects and thereby reveal what proactive and reactive control mechanisms are involved in language switching. Voluntary language switching tasks, where a bilingual participant can switch freely between their languages while naming, are being utilized more often due to their greater ecological validity compared to cued switching paradigms. Because this type of task had not yet been applied to language switching in bilingual patients, our study sought to explore voluntary switching in bilinguals with aphasia (BWAs) as well as in healthy bilinguals. In Experiment 1, we replicated previously reported results of switch costs and mixing benefits within our own bilingual population of Catalan-Spanish bilinguals. With Experiment 2, we compared both the performances of BWAs as a group and as individuals against control group performance. Results illustrated a complex picture of language control abilities, indicating varying degrees of association and dissociation between factors of BLC. Given the diversity of impairments in BWAs’ language control mechanisms, we highlight the need to examine BLC at the individual level and through the lens of theoretical cognitive control frameworks in order to further parse out how bilinguals regulate their language switching.

Language dominance in the previously acquired languages modulates rate of third language (L3) development over time: a longitudinal study

ABSTRACT This study examines the extent to which extra-linguistic factors such as language dominance, order of acquisition and language of instruction are deterministic for multilingual transfer selection and subsequent development. We test two groups of Catalan-Spanish bilinguals acquiring English as an L3 in a controlled setting. We first examine judgements and interpretations of negative quantifiers and negative polarity items after 16 hours of exposure, establishing the participants own baselines for development. Eleven months later, we test those that continued learning English to explore what factors modulate their development. Data suggest that holistic structural similarity is the most deterministic factor for initial transfer selection. Results of TIME 2 reveal that developmental sequencing, however, is dynamic and non-uniform, differing at the individual level by language-dominance in Catalan or Spanish.

Interference and facilitation in phonological encoding: Two sides of the same coin? Evidence from bilingual aphasia

Abstract In the present study, we explored the underlying mechanisms of lexical retrieval in two languages when modulated by phonological context. To do so, we investigated the performance of bilingual patients with aphasia and healthy bilingual individuals on a blocked cyclic naming task as a measure of lexical activation and phonological encoding within their two languages. Highly proficient Catalan-Spanish bilinguals with aphasia (n = 13) and controls (n = 15) were recruited for this study, all with language profiles consistent with early and balanced usage of their two languages. Participants completed a phonological blocked cyclic naming task where reaction times, word duration, and accuracy in naming were measured in each of their languages. Three main results were obtained: (1) overall, patients were slower and less accurate than controls; (2) in patients with aphasia, phonologically related items were named with less accuracy than unrelated ones, suggesting an interference effect of phonological overlap within lexical retrieval; (3) performance in terms of naming latencies showed no effect of phonological context and this was similar across both languages for patients and controls; and (4) word durations were unaffected by phonological context and item repetition, suggesting that phonological encoding may not have a cascading effect onto speech-motor planning. Additionally, individual level analyses confirmed that most of the patients were less accurate in naming pictures within the homogenous compared to the heterogeneous condition (9/13 patients in their dominant language and 11/13 in their non-dominant language). These findings are discussed within the context of language production theories that have attempted to explain facilitation and interference in blocking naming and their implications for bilingualism.

The gender congruency effect in Catalan–Spanish bilinguals: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence

AbstractThe present study examines whether processing a word in one language is affected by the grammatical gender of its translation equivalent in another language. To this end, a group of Catalan–Spanish bilinguals performed a translation–recognition task while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. Participants were presented with Catalan and Spanish pairs of words and had to decide if they were translation equivalents. Correct translations included words that were gender congruent (estiuMAS/veranoMAS–summer) or gender incongruent (tardorFEM/otoñoMAS–autumn). The behavioral results showed that participants were faster and more accurate in the gender-congruent condition than in the incongruent condition. The ERP data showed a reduced N400 for the congruent condition. The facilitative effect of gender congruency observed in this study constitutes evidence of the obligatory access to grammatical gender information during bare noun processing and suggests that the bilinguals’ gender systems interact, even in highly proficient early bilinguals.

Latent variable evidence on the interplay between language switching frequency and executive control in Spanish-Catalan bilinguals

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: We characterized the impact of several bilingualism-related factors on the executive control of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals. Design/methodology/approach: Participants self-reported information regarding their age of acquisition, second language proficiency and frequency of natural language switching, and performed non-linguistic tasks tapping into specific executive control subcomponents, including inhibition, switching and updating. Data and analysis: Data were analyzed by means of a structural equation model (SEM) approach. Findings/conclusions: Results revealed that the frequency of natural language switching positively modulated the executive control performance of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals, while neither age of acquisition nor second language proficiency had an effect. Moreover, we found that the impact of natural language switching exerted general-processing influences, affecting all subcomponents of executive control. Findings are discussed in relation to context-specific effects on the cognitive system of a particular bilingual population. Originality: The current study applied an SEM approach to provide new evidence on the previously ambiguous relation between bilingualism-related factors and executive control. Significance/implications: Our findings suggest that the frequency of natural language switching does globally influence the executive control of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals.