Non-dominant Language Research Articles

Experiences of genetic counselors practicing in multiple languages: Progress and places for improvement.

As awareness of the value of genetic counseling services increases, there has been greater recognition of the need to diversify service delivery into different languages. Studies within genetic counseling and related fields have identified complications that can arise from language nonconcordance between provider and patient. A strategy to mitigate language barriers is prioritizing the development of a multilingual workforce of genetic counselors (GCs) who can communicate with patients in their preferred language. This exploratory study assessed the experiences of multilingual GCs who have practiced in a clinical role with the aim to identify relevant challenges and differences when counseling in their nondominant language. Statistical analysis was performed to identify differences in session tasks and emotions experienced when counseling in one's nondominant language versus their dominant language. Data analysis identified an increase in reported difficulty level for most clinical tasks while using a nondominant language, most notably for difficulty with psychosocial counseling, disclosing results, and administrative tasks. Participants were also surveyed on employer support and resources provided. Overall, results suggest that multilingual GCs may benefit from greater support in certain areas within clinical roles to enhance their ability to provide patient care in their nondominant language.

Language and power: linguistic imperialism

Linguistic imperialism refers to the dominance of one language over others, often resulting in the marginalization of local languages and cultures. This phenomenon has significant implications for power dynamics in global communication, education, and identity formation. The paper explores the historical context of linguistic imperialism, examining how colonialism and globalization have contributed to the prevalence of languages such as English in international discourse. The object of research is the impact of linguistic hegemony on non-dominant languages and their speakers. The subject of this study focuses on the social, political, and cultural ramifications of linguistic imperialism, particularly in post-colonial societies. Through a comprehensive literature analysis, the article identifies key theories and frameworks that explain the mechanisms of language dominance. The research employs qualitative methods, including discourse analysis and case studies, to illustrate the lived experiences of individuals affected by linguistic oppression. The findings reveal a correlation between language use and power relations, underscoring the need for inclusive language policies that promote linguistic diversity. The prospects for further research development include investigating strategies for revitalizing endangered languages and fostering multilingualism in educational contexts. In conclusion, addressing linguistic imperialism is crucial in promoting social justice and preserving cultural heritage in an increasingly interconnected world.

Pro-drop in Farsi: A Case Study of Bilingual Speakers

This research is meant to uncover some of the internal grammatical structure of bilingual Farsi speakers who have English as their dominant language. Bilinguals, whose mother tongue is Farsi but whose dominant language is English, are influenced by their dominant language on their mother tongue concerning pro-drop. One of the issues often seen in bilingual speakers of null subject languages is the use of pro-drop in languages such as Hungarian, Japanese, Chinese, Slavic languages, and Arabic. This paper will demonstrate how these bilingual speakers incorrectly use the null subjects in their sentences and in addition, how SEN children i.e. Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) understand and use the pronoun-dropping phenomenon. Choosing a null pronoun in the non-dominant language seems unacceptable to some speakers because their dominant language lacks pro-drop; therefore, in certain situations, researchers might say that these bilingual speakers do not sound as fluent in their native language as they do in their dominant language. The main focus of this research is the investigation into the preference of bilingual speakers as well as ASD children of English and Farsi and their use of pro-drop

Unveiling the neuroplastic capacity of the bilingual brain: insights from healthy and pathological individuals.

Research on the neural imprint of dual-language experience, crucial for understanding how the brain processes dominant and non-dominant languages, remains inconclusive. Conflicting evidence suggests either similarity or distinction in neural processing, with implications for bilingual patients with brain tumors. Preserving dual-language functions after surgery requires considering pre-diagnosis neuroplastic changes. Here, we combine univariate and multivariate fMRI methodologies to test a group of healthy Spanish-Basque bilinguals and a group of bilingual patients with gliomas affecting the language-dominant hemisphere while they overtly produced sentences in either their dominant or non-dominant language. Findings from healthy participants revealed the presence of a shared neural system for both languages, while also identifying regions with distinct language-dependent activation and lateralization patterns. Specifically, while the dominant language engaged a more left-lateralized network, speech production in the non-dominant language relied on the recruitment of a bilateral basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuit. Notably, based on language lateralization patterns, we were able to robustly decode (AUC: 0.80 ± 0.18) the language being used. Conversely, bilingual patients exhibited bilateral activation patterns for both languages. For the dominant language, regions such as the cerebellum, thalamus, and caudate acted in concert with the sparsely activated language-specific nodes. In the case of the non-dominant language, the recruitment of the default mode network was notably prominent. These results demonstrate the compensatory engagement of non-language-specific networks in the preservation of bilingual speech production, even in the face of pathological conditions. Overall, our findings underscore the pervasive impact of dual-language experience on brain functional (re)organization, both in health and disease.

:Language Issues in Comparative Education II: Policy and Practice in Multilingual Education Based on Non-dominant Languages

:<i>Language Issues in Comparative Education II: Policy and Practice in Multilingual Education Based on Non-dominant Languages</i>

Sprinting in two languages: Picture naming performance of older Spanish-English bilinguals on the Multilingual Naming Test Sprint 2.0.

The present study examined how years of immersion in a nondominant language affect (a) the degree of bilingualism as measured by picture naming scores and (b) the bilingual disadvantage relative to monolinguals. Forty-two older Spanish-English bilinguals named pictures in an expanded rapid administration version of the Multilingual Naming Test (MINT Sprint 2.0) in both languages and completed a language history questionnaire. English-speaking monolinguals (n = 138; from Gollan et al., 2024) named pictures in just one language. Spanish-dominant bilinguals named more pictures in the nondominant language but fewer pictures in the dominant language relative to English-dominant bilinguals. Increased years of immersion in the nondominant language increased naming scores in that language but decreased naming scores in the dominant language. When controlling for differences in age and education level, monolinguals named more pictures than bilinguals even in their dominant language, a difference that was numerically smaller for English-dominant bilinguals. However, two bilinguals who stated that they prefer to be tested in English scored much higher in Spanish. Older bilinguals name fewer pictures than demographically matched monolinguals even when bilinguals are tested in their dominant language and especially if they report many years of immersion in their nondominant language. The bilingual disadvantage can be magnified if self-reported language preference is used to determine the language of testing. Accurate interpretation of bilingual picture naming scores requires a thorough language history and objective assessment in both languages, which can be done in relatively little time using rapid administration procedures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Developing Cogent Strategies for the Lexical Development of Non-Dominant Languages: Empowering Linguistic have-Nots and Maximizing Linguistic Performance

We begin this paper by emphasizing the importance of language policy and language planning processes, and investigate its history in different contexts. We also draw reference to our previously published paper on the empowerment of linguistic have nots, and attempt to present and propose classificatory mechanisms of languages from the aforesaid perspective. We also then review the concepts of pedagogy, verbal intelligence, linguistic enculturation, linguistic ethnography, the Sapir Whorf hypothesis, linguistic workarounds and econolexia, and review and study patterns of lexical development among individuals in different contexts, and in different parts of the world. We interface these observations with first and second language acquisition patterns and theories as well. We then end this paper by debating and proposing various strategies for the lexical development of languages, particularly strategies for the lexical development of less dominant and future-ready languages. We do this by studying different case studies and experiences drawn from real-time studies carried out and conducted in different parts of the world, particularly experiences from developing countries, and then drawing inferences and generalizations there from. We anticipate that this would constitute an extremely important component of our globalization of science movement by boosting linguistic and economic performance of people in different cultures and different parts of the world, particularly those who lag behind or are otherwise underrepresented in science and economic development.

Revisiting which language declines more in Spanish-English bilinguals with Alzheimer's disease: Longitudinal decline patterns on the multilingual naming test

Theories of bilingual language production predict that bilinguals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) should exhibit one of two decline patterns. Either parallel decline of both languages (if decline reflects damage to semantic representations that are accessed by both languages), or asymmetrical decline, with greater decline of the nondominant language (if decline reflects reduced ability to resolve competition from the dominant language with disease progression). Only two previous studies examined decline longitudinally with one showing parallel, and the other asymmetrical, decline. We examined decline over 2–7 years (3.9 on average) in Spanish-English bilinguals (N = 23). Logistic regression revealed a parallel decline pattern at one year from baseline, but an asymmetrical decline pattern over the longer decline period, with greater decline of the nondominant language (when calculating predicted probabilities of a correct response). The asymmetrical decline pattern was significantly greater for the nondominant language only when including item-difficulty in the model. Exploratory analyses across dominance groups looking at proportional decline relative to initial naming accuracy further suggested that decline of the nondominant language may be more precipitous if that language was acquired later in life, but the critical interaction needed to support this possibility was not statistically significant in a logistic regression analysis. These results suggest that accessibility of the nondominant language may initially be more resilient in early versus more advanced AD, and that AD affects shared semantic representations before executive control declines to a point where the ability to name pictures in single-language testing block is disrupted. Additional work is needed to determine if asymmetrical decline patterns are magnified by late age of acquisition of the nondominant language, and if more subtle impairments to executive control underlie impairments to language switching that occur in the earliest stages of AD (even preclinically).

Gesture and Bilingualism: evidence from Polish-English preschoolers.

Communication of monolingual and bilingual children differs with respect to words they use in a conversation and choice of gestures accompanying these words. Language dominance can play a vital role in how children use gestures to back up or replace vocabulary items. In the research, we investigated the relationship between language and gestures in bilingual, Polish-English preschoolers. We assumed that children would produce more co-speech gestures in their dominant language, compared to their non-dominant language, which has not been traced thoroughly in the topical research. In the report, we provide theoretical background from gesture studies and language acquisition, we present the procedure used in the experiment, and discuss the analysis of data obtained from four bilinguals: a 53-month-old, two 67-month-old and a 76-month-old. The recordings gathered document gesticulation and speech of the children during a conversation with the researcher, which is conducted in the form of a game. We present quantitative (gesture count) and qualitative analysis of the material gathered during that game.

Association between language discordance and unplanned hospital readmissions or emergency department revisits: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and objectiveStudies conflict about whether language discordance increases rates of hospital readmissions or emergency department (ED) revisits for adult and paediatric patients. The literature was systematically reviewed to investigate...

Speech Disfluencies in Bilingual Lebanese Children Who Do and Do Not Stutter.

Prior studies have shown that bilingual children who do not stutter (CWNS) exhibit a high number of disfluencies in both languages, increasing the risk of misidentification by speech-language pathologists as children who stutter (CWS). Conversely, there is a risk of misidentifying CWS with a relatively low incidence of disfluencies as CWNS. This study aims to explore the qualitative and quantitative distinctions in speech disfluency profiles between CWNS and CWS. The assessment covers both the dominant and nondominant language to examine the impact of language dominance on disfluency patterns. A total of 92 Lebanese bilinguals (70 CWNS and 22 CWS) from 4;06 to 7;06 (years;months) were included. Language dominance was determined based on parental assessments. Spontaneous and narrative speech samples were collected for each child in both languages and all stuttering-like disfluencies (SLD) and other disfluencies (OD) were coded. On average, CWNS showed a significantly lower percentage of total SLD, weighted SLD, SLD subtypes, and iterations compared to CWS. However, the number of disfluencies of CWNS exceeded monolingual clinical standards. Language dominance did not impact SLD and OD percentages, but some differences for SLD subtypes emerged. Binary logistic regression analyses showed that repetitions and dysrhythmic phonations are good predictors for correct CWS or CWNS classification, in contrast to OD. A combination of predictors from both languages led to better classification than using predictors from either language alone. The current study shows that speech disfluency percentages in bilingual CWNS typically surpass monolingual standards and can be at par with those of CWS. However, through careful consideration of disfluency characteristics, ideally in both languages, an accurate differential diagnosis of stuttering in bilingual children can be achieved.

Lexical-semantic activation in French-Spanish or French-English bilingual toddlers: An event-related potential (ERP) investigation

Both behavioral and neurophysiological evidence shows that lexical-semantic organization emerges by two years in monolingual children. Research in bilingual children is more scarce, and there is only a limited amount of neurophysiological evidence of the effect of language dominance on lexical-semantic activation. In the present event-related potential (ERP) study, we investigated whether bilingual French-Spanish and French-English learning 24- to 30-month-olds activate semantic relations between words similarly in their both languages, and whether the priming effects are similar in children learning two different language pairs. Participants were presented with related and unrelated dominant and non-dominant language word pairs in a within-language lexical-semantic priming paradigm. The amplitudes of N400 were modulated by trial type, language dominance and language group. A language-independent priming effect - more pronounced N400 amplitudes for unrelated than for related target words - was found in the group of toddlers learning French and Spanish. In the group of toddlers learning French and English, a priming effect was observed only in their non-dominant language. Our results propose that the language pair may contribute to lexical-semantic facilitation in priming tasks during early childhood.

Multilingualism as right and choice: A case study of Slovene speakers in Northeast Italy

Summary This article is based on a case study of Slovene speakers in north-western Italy and their attitudes towards language use and policy. Although the legal protection and support for the development of minority, regional, and non-dominant languages in Europe have made a remarkable progress, minority language communities still face many serious challenges. On the one hand, the level of their respective legal protection is often not efficient enough. On the other hand, legal protection provides only formal conditions for language maintenance, which has nothing to do with motivation, proficiency, or improvement. Today, most minority speakers in Europe are allowed and encouraged to use their home language in the public; but the question is whether they are motivated to do so. By studying the speakers of Slovene in Italy, my aim is to point at importance of colloquial local and non-local (koiné) varieties in maintaining minority language and bilingualism.

Language switching and speaking a nondominant language challenge executive control: Preliminary data for novel behavioral markers of Alzheimer's risk in Spanish-English bilinguals.

The present study explored psycholinguistic analysis of spoken responses produced in a structured interview and cued linguistic and nonlinguistic task switching as possible novel markers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk in Spanish-English bilinguals. Nineteen Spanish-English bilinguals completed an Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) in both languages, cued-switching tasks, and a battery of traditional neuropsychological tests (in a separate testing session). All were cognitively healthy at the time of testing, but eight decliners were later diagnosed with AD (on average 4.5 years after testing; SD = 2.3), while 11 controls remained cognitively healthy. Past studies showed picture naming was more sensitive to AD in the dominant than in the nondominant language, but we found the opposite for a composite measure of spoken utterances produced in the OPI that included revisions, repetitions, and filled pauses (RRFPs), which were especially sensitive to AD risk in the nondominant language. Errors produced on language switch trials best discriminated decliners from controls (in receiver operating characteristic curves), and though the nonlinguistic switching task was also sensitive to AD risk, it elicited more errors overall and was also negatively affected by increased age and low education level. Speaking a nondominant language and errors in cued language switching provided sensitive and specific markers of pending cognitive decline and AD risk in bilinguals. These measures may reflect early decline in executive control abilities that are needed to plan and monitor the production of connected speech and to manage competition for selection between languages. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Perspective judgment across adulthood: Evidence from bilinguals.

Judging the perspective of others often requires ignoring one's own accessible knowledge. Aging increases reliance on the most available knowledge and may decrease the adjustment of this knowledge to adopt another perspective. Using a dominant language also decreases control demands, while using a nondominant language promotes deliberation. We examined whether aging and language dominance shape the way in which individuals judge someone else's interpretation of ambiguous messages. Russian-Hebrew bilinguals (N = 237, ages 19-80) read 20 ambiguous messages and judged how a recipient would interpret them. Half of the texts contained information that suggested that the message was sincere, and half of the texts contained information that implied that the message was sarcastic. This information was available only to the participant and should not have affected the recipient's interpretation. An egocentric bias emerged in both languages since participants could not ignore their own knowledge when judging the recipient's perspective. Aging was associated with a greater bias, but the results were similar in both languages. A second study included 60 younger (ages 18-39) and 62 older (ages 60-80) Israeli-born participants, who performed the same task as well as a flanker task (i.e., judging the direction of a central arrow flanked by congruent and incongruent distractors). Age interacted with the egocentric bias, but there was no correlation between the flanker effect and perspective judgment. Thus, decreased inhibition, as measured by the flanker task, cannot account for the egocentric bias. We suggest that the findings reflect difficulty in overriding highly accessible information, especially in older age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Trilingual parallel processing: Do the dominant languages grab all the attention?

Abstract Twenty-five L1 Nepali speaking participants living in Trondheim, Norway who spoke English as L2 and Norwegian as L3 (late adult learners) participated in this study. Participants’ L2 proficiency was established as advanced in LexTALE. We administered language comprehension and production tasks in a trilingual design. In a mouse tracking trilingual parallel activation experiment, participants performed a language comprehension task in which they listened to the spoken word in their L1, L2 and L3 and clicked on the matching target picture. Mouse trajectories of their response pattern were recorded and analyzed. The language production task included a phonological and a semantic verbal fluency task (VFT), which also served as an executive control task. VFT showed their dominance in L1 and L2 compared to L3. This study contributes novel knowledge on trilingual parallel activation and suggests that in the presence of a non-dominant L3, a dominant L1 and a dominant L2 are processed faster than the non-dominant language in phonologically competing conditions.

Reliability of the picture description task of the Western Aphasia Battery – revised in Laurentian French persons without brain injury

Objective: Limited normative data (including psychometric properties) are currently available on discourse tasks in non-dominant languages such as Laurentian (Quebec) French. The lack of linguistic and cultural adaptation has been identified as a barrier to discourse assessment. The main aim of this study is to document inter-rater and test-retest reliability properties of the picnic scene of the Western Aphasia Battery – Revised (WAB-R), including the cultural adaptation of an information content unit (ICU) list, and provide a normative reference for persons without brain injury (PWBI). Method: To do so, we also aimed to adapt an ICU checklist culturally and linguistically for Laurentian French speakers. Discourse samples were collected from 66 PWBI using the picture description task of the WAB-R. The ICU list was first adapted into Laurentian French. Then, ICUs and thematic units (TUs) were extracted manually, and microstructural variables were extracted using CLAN. Inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability were determined. Results: Excellent inter-rater reliability was obtained for ICUs and TUs, as well as for all microstructural variables, except for mean length of utterance, which was found to be good. Conversely, test-retest reliability ranged from poor to moderate for all variables. Conclusion: The present study provides a validated ICU checklist for clinicians and researchers working with Laurentian French speakers when assessing discourse with the picnic scene of the WAB-R. It also addresses the gap in available psychometric data regarding inter-rater and test-retest reliability in PWBI.

Bilingual proficiency effects in paired-associate learning of vocabulary in an unfamiliar language

Abstract We investigated three aspects of paired associate learning of vocabulary in an unfamiliar language: monolingual-bilingual differences, effects of dominance and language proficiency, and the possible role of associative strategies. Spanish–English bilinguals (48 English-dominant and 48 Spanish-dominant) and English-speaking monolinguals (n = 48) learned Swahili–English and Swahili-Spanish word pairs. Learning was assessed using cued recall (Swahili cue or Swahili response) and associative recognition tests. English-dominant bilinguals did not outperform English monolinguals on any learning measure. Cued recall accuracy was higher when learning through the dominant language than through the non-dominant language, whether the Swahili words were cues or responses. Proficiency scores in the known language were positively correlated with cued recall accuracy, whether the cue or the response was in Swahili, indicating that proficiency effects occurred not in retrievability of known words but in learning of associations. Bilingual and monolingual participants did not differ in their reported use of associative strategies.

New insights on what leads bilinguals to be able to name some pictures only in their nondominant language: Immersion, dominance reversal, and balanced bilingualism.

The present study asked if bilinguals who are immersed in their nondominant language are more likely to know some words only in their nondominant language. The either-language scoring benefit (ELSB) reflects how many more points bilinguals get when credited for pictures named regardless of which language is used. We asked if the ELSB varies with self-rated proficiency level of the nondominant language in young English-dominant (n = 68) compared to Spanish-dominant (n = 33) bilinguals, and in older English-dominant (n = 36) compared to Spanish-dominant (n = 32) bilinguals. All bilinguals were immersed in English (in the USA) at the time of testing. Spanish-dominant bilinguals showed a larger ELSB than English-dominant bilinguals (in both young and older groups), but simple correlations showed that the degree of Spanish dominance was associated with a higher ELSB only in young bilinguals. Additionally, the ELSB was larger for bilinguals with more years of immersion and for more balanced bilinguals, whether measured by naming scores or self-rated balance (in both age groups). Nearly half (n = 14/33) of the young bilinguals who said they were Spanish-dominant scored higher in English than in Spanish, and on average these participants had similar naming scores in English and Spanish. Either-language scoring benefits bilinguals with higher proficiency level in the nondominant language, which is more likely in bilinguals with extended immersion in the nondominant language, who also tend to be more balanced bilinguals, and for young adult bilinguals who may be in the process of a switch in which language is dominant.

Attitudes towards COVID-19 Vaccination in Adults with Haematological Malignancies

Introduction: Despite people with haematological malignancies being particularly vulnerable to severe COVID-19 infection and complications, vaccine hesitancy may be a barrier to optimal vaccination. This study explored attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination in people with haematological malignancies. Methods: People with haematological malignancies at nine Australian health services were surveyed between June and October 2021. Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics were collected. Attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccination were explored using the Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Scale, the Oxford COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence and Complacency Scale, and the Disease Influenced Vaccine Acceptance Scale-Six. Open-ended comments were qualitatively analysed. Results: A total of 869 people with haematological malignancies (mean age 64.2 years, 43.6% female) participated. Most participants (85.3%) reported that they had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. Participants who were younger, spoke English as a non-dominant language, and had a shorter time since diagnosis were less likely to be vaccinated. Those who were female or spoke English as their non-dominant language reported greater vaccine side-effect concerns. Younger participants reported greater concerns about the vaccine impacting their treatment. Conclusion: People with haematological malignancies reported high vaccine uptake; however, targeted education for specific participant groups may address vaccine hesitancy concerns, given the need for COVID-19 vaccine boosters.