Cover not available
Part of
Psycholinguistic Approaches to Production and Comprehension in Bilingual Adults and Children
Edited by Leigh B. Fernandez, Kalliopi Katsika, Maialen Iraola Azpiroz and Shanley E.M. Allen
[Benjamins Current Topics 117] 2021
► pp. 39–65

Bilingual language control across modalities

The relationship between mixed-language comprehension and production

ORCID logo | Centre for Linguistics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel | Brussels Institute for Applied Linguistics, Vrije Universiteit Brussel | Centre for Neurosciences, Vrije Universiteit Brussel | Leiden University Centre for Linguistics | Brussels Centre for Urban Studies, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
 | Vrije Universiteit Brussel
 | Vrije Universiteit Brussel
 | Leiden University Centre for Linguistics | University of California, San Francisco
 | Vrije Universiteit Brussel | Kyung Hee University
Bilingual language control has previously been tested separately in tasks of language comprehension and language production. Whereas these studies have suggested that local control processes are selectively recruited during mixed-language production, the present study investigated whether measures of global control show the same dependence on modality, or are shared across modalities. Thirty-eight Dutch-French bilingual young adults participated by completing two tasks of bilingual language control in both modalities. Global accuracy on mixed-language comprehension was related to mixing costs on bilingual verbal fluency, but only when compared to the L2-baseline. Global performance on mixed-language production was related to forward (L1-to-L2) switch costs. Finally, a significant correlation was found between the mixing cost on verbal fluency and forward switch costs on the comprehension task. The results are interpreted as evidence for the involvement of monitoring processes in bilingual language control across modality. The results also highlight the relevance of language switch directionality.
Keywords: bilingualism, cognitive control, language control
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1The present study
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Tasks
      • 2.2.1Mixed-language semantic categorisation task
      • 2.2.2Single- and mixed-language verbal fluency
    • 2.3Procedure
      • 2.3.1General procedure
      • 2.3.2Data analysis
        • 2.3.2.1Mixed-language semantic categorisation task
        • 2.3.2.2Single and mixed-language verbal-fluency
        • 2.3.2.3Correlational analyses
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Measures of mixed-language semantic categorisation task
      • 3.1.1Effects of language, switch and switch directionality
      • 3.1.2Global mixed-language comprehension
    • 3.2Measures of single- and mixed-language verbal fluency
      • 3.2.1Single-language conditions
      • 3.2.2Mixed-language condition
      • 3.2.3Mixing costs
    • 3.3Correlations between measures of mixed-language production and comprehension
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 14 July 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bct.117.03str
References (64)
References
Baayen, R. H., Piepenbrock, R., & Van Rijn, H. (1993). The CELEX lexical database (CD-ROM). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, Linguistic Data Consortium.Google Scholar
Bak, T. H. (2016). Cooking pasta in La Paz Bilingualism, bias and the replication crisis. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 6(5), 699–717. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Benjamini, Y., & Hochberg, Y. (1995). Controlling the false discovery rate – A practical and powerful approach to multiple testing. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B-Methodological, 57(1), 289–300. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M., Klein, R., & Viswanathan, M. (2004). Bilingualism, aging, and cognitive control: Evidence from the Simon task. Psychology and Aging, 19(2), 290–303. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Branzi, F. M., Calabria, M., Boscarino, M. L., & Costa, A. (2016). On the overlap between bilingual language control and domain-general executive control. Acta Psychologica, 166, 21–30. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Calabria, M., Branzi, F. M., Marne, P., Hernandez, M., & Costa, A. (2015). Age-related effects over bilingual language control and executive control. Bilingualism-Language and Cognition, 18(1), 65–78. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Calabria, M., Hernandez, M., Branzi, F. M., & Costa, A. (2012). Qualitative differences between bilingual language control and executive control: evidence from task-switching. Frontiers in Psychology, 3. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Christoffels, I. K., Firk, C., & Schiller, N. O. (2007). Bilingual language control: An event-related brain potential study. Brain Research, 1147, 192–208. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cook, S. V., & Gor, K. (2015). Lexical access in L2 Representational deficit or processing constraint? Mental Lexicon, 10(2), 247–270. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Costa, A., Hernandez, M., Costa-Faidella, J., & Sebastian-Galles, N. (2009). On the bilingual advantage in conflict processing: Now you see it, now you don’t. Cognition, 113(2), 135–149. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Costa, A., Hernandez, M., & Sebastian-Galles, N. (2008). Bilingualism aids conflict resolution: Evidence from the ANT task. Cognition, 106(1), 59–86. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Costa, A., & Santesteban, M. (2004). Lexical access in bilingual speech production: Evidence from language switching in highly proficient bilinguals and L2 learners. Journal of Memory and Language, 50(4), 491–511. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dijkstra, T., Van Heuven, W. J. B., & Grainger, J. (1998). Simulating cross-language competition with the bilingual interactive activation model. Psychologica Belgica, 38(3–4), 177–196. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dimitropoulou, M., Dunabeitia, J. A., & Carreiras, M. (2011). Two words, one meaning: evidence of automatic co-activation of translation equivalents. Frontiers in Psychology, 2. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Festman, J., Rodriguez-Fornells, A., & Munte, T. F. (2010). Individual differences in control of language interference in late bilinguals are mainly related to general executive abilities. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 6. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fink, A., & Goldrick, M. (2015). Pervasive benefits of preparation in language switching. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22(3), 808–814. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Friedman, N. P. (2016). Research on individual differences in executive functions Implications for the bilingual advantage hypothesis. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 6(5), 535–548. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gambi, C., & Hartsuiker, R. J. (2016). If you stay, it might be easier: Switch costs from comprehension to production in a joint switching task. Journal of Experimental Psychology-Learning Memory and Cognition, 42(4), 608–626. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gollan, T. H., & Ferreira, V. S. (2009). Should I stay or should I switch? A cost-benefit analysis of voluntary language switching in young and aging bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology-Learning Memory and Cognition, 35(3), 640–665. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gollan, T. H., Kleinman, D., & Wierenga, C. E. (2014). What’s easier: Doing what you want, or being told what to do? Cued versus voluntary language and task switching. Journal of Experimental Psychology-General, 143(6), 2167–2195. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gollan, T. H., Montoya, R. I., & Werner, G. A. (2002). Semantic and letter fluency in Spanish-English bilinguals. Neuropsychology, 16(4), 562–576. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Green, D. W. (1998). Mental control of the bilingual lexico-semantic system. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1(2), 67–81. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hernandez, A. E., & Kohnert, K. J. (2015). Investigations into the locus of language-switching costs in older adult bilinguals. Bilingualism-Language and Cognition, 18(1), 51–64. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hernandez, A. E., Martinez, A., & Kohnert, K. (2000). In search of the language switch: An fMRI study of picture naming in Spanish-English bilinguals. Brain and Language, 73(3), 421–431. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hilchey, M. D., & Klein, R. M. (2011). Are there bilingual advantages on nonlinguistic interference tasks? Implications for the plasticity of executive control processes. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 18(4), 625–658. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hoshino, N., & Thierry, G. (2011). Language selection in bilingual word production: Electrophysiological evidence for cross-language competition. Brain Research, 1371, 100–109. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hugdahl, K., Lundervold, A., Ersland, L., Smievoll, A. I., Sundberg, H., Barndon, R., & Roscher, B. E. (1999). Left frontal activation during a semantic categorization task: An fMRI-study. International Journal of Neuroscience, 99(1–4), 49–58. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kaan, E., Harris, A., Gibson, E., & Holcomb, P. (2000). The P600 as an index of syntactic integration difficulty. Language and Cognitive Processes, 15(2), 159–201. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kolk, H. H. J., Chwilla, D. J., van Herten, M., & Oor, P. J. W. (2003). Structure and limited capacity in verbal working memory: A study with event-related potentials. Brain and Language, 85(1), 1–36. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Le Grand Robert Langue française. (2017). Retrieved 2017, September 28 [URL]
Levelt, W. J. M. (1983). Monitoring and self-repair in speech. Cognition, 14(1), 41–104. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Libben, M. R., & Titone, D. A. (2009). Bilingual lexical access in context: Evidence from eye movements during reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology-Learning Memory and Cognition, 35(2), 381–390. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Linck, J. A., Schwieter, J. W., & Sunderman, G. (2012). Inhibitory control predicts language switching performance in trilingual speech production. Bilingualism-Language and Cognition, 15(3), 651–662. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ma, F. Y., Li, S. C., & Guo, T. M. (2016). Reactive and proactive control in bilingual word production: An investigation of influential factors. Journal of Memory and Language, 86, 35–59. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Macizo, P., Bajo, T., & Paolieri, D. (2012). Language switching and language competition. Second Language Research, 28(2), 131–149. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marian, V., Blumenfeld, H. K., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2007). The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing language profiles in bilinguals and multilinguals. Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research, 50(4), 940–967. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Martin, C. D., Strijkers, K., Santesteban, M., Escera, C., Hartsuiker, R. J., & Costa, A. (2013). The impact of early bilingualism on controlling a language learned late: an ERP study. Frontiers in Psychology, 4. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Marton, K. (2016). Executive control in bilingual children Factors that influence the outcomes. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 6(5), 575–589. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Meuter, R. F. I., & Allport, A. (1999). Bilingual language switching in naming: Asymmetrical costs of language selection. Journal of Memory and Language, 40(1), 25–40. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Orfanidou, E., & Sumner, P. (2005). Language switching and the effects of orthographic specificity and response repetition. Memory & Cognition, 33(2), 355–369. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Prior, A., Degani, T., Awawdy, S., Yassin, R., & Korem, N. (2017). Is susceptibility to cross-language interference domain specific? Cognition, 165, 10–25. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Prior, A., & Gollan, T. H. (2011). Good Language-Switchers are Good Task-Switchers: Evidence from Spanish-English and Mandarin-English Bilinguals. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 17(4), 682–691. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, M. G., Schloffel, S., & Peressotti, F. (2016). Asymmetric switch costs in numeral naming and number word reading: Implications for models of bilingual language production. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Roelofs, A., Piai, V., Rodriguez, G. G., & Chwilla, D. J. (2016). Electrophysiology of cross-language interference and facilitation in picture naming. Cortex, 76, 1–16. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sauval, K., Perre, L., Duncan, L. G., Marinus, E., & Casalis, S. (2017). Automatic phonological activation during visual word recognition in bilingual children: A cross-language masked priming study in grades 3 and 5. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 154, 64–77. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Schwartz, A. I., & Kroll, J. F. (2006). Bilingual lexical activation in sentence context. Journal of Memory and Language, 55(2), 197–212. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Singh, N., & Mishra, R. K. (2015). The modulatory role of second language proficiency on performance monitoring: evidence from a saccadic countermanding task in high and low proficient bilinguals. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Soveri, A., Rodriguez-Fornells, A., & Laine, M. (2011). Is there a relationship between language switching and executive functions in bilingualism? Introducing a within-group analysis approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 2. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Teubner-Rhodes, S. E., Mishler, A., Corbett, R., Andreu, L., Sanz-Torrent, M., Trueswell, J. C., & Novick, J. M. (2016). The effects of bilingualism on conflict monitoring, cognitive control, and garden-path recovery. Cognition, 150, 213–231. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Thomas, M. S. C., & Allport, A. (2000). Language switching costs in bilingual visual word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 43(1), 44–66. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tse, C. S., & Altarriba, J. (2015). Local and global task switching costs in bilinguals who vary in second language proficiency. American Journal of Psychology, 128(1), 89–106. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Van Dale Online Professioneel. (2017). Retrieved 2017, September 28 [URL]
van de Meerendonk, N., Chwilla, D. J., & Kolk, H. H. J. (2013). States of indecision in the brain: ERP reflections of syntactic agreement violations versus visual degradation. Neuropsychologia, 51(8), 1383–1396. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van de Meerendonk, N., Indefrey, P., Chwilla, D. J., & Kolk, H. H. J. (2011). Monitoring in language perception: Electrophysiological and hemodynamic responses to spelling violations. Neuroimage, 54(3), 2350–2363. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van de Meerendonk, N., Kolk, H. H. J., Vissers, C., & Chwilla, D. J. (2010). Monitoring in language perception: Mild and strong conflicts elicit different ERP patterns. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(1), 67–82. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
van Hell, J. G., & Tanner, D. (2012). Second language proficiency and cross-language lexical activation. Language Learning, 62, 148–171. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Vissers, C., Kolk, H. H. J., van de Meerendonk, N., & Chwilla, D. J. (2008). Monitoring in language perception: Evidence from ERPs in a picture-sentence matching task. Neuropsychologia, 46(4), 967–982. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
von Bastian, C. C., Souza, A. S., & Gade, M. (2016). No evidence for bilingual cognitive advantages: A test of four hypotheses. Journal of Experimental Psychology-General, 145(2), 246–258. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, X. (2015). Language control in bilingual language comprehension: evidence from the maze task. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wang, Y. P., Kuhl, P. K., Chen, C. H., & Dong, Q. (2009). Sustained and transient language control in the bilingual brain. Neuroimage, 47(1), 414–422. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Watson, C. W. M., Manly, J. J., & Zahodne, L. B. (2016). Does bilingualism protect against cognitive aging? Methodological issues in research on bilingualism, cognitive reserve, and dementia incidence. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 6(5), 590–604. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wiseheart, M., Viswanathan, M., & Bialystok, E. (2016). Flexibility in task switching by monolinguals and bilinguals. Bilingualism-Language and Cognition, 19(1), 141–146. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Woumans, E., Ceuleers, E., Van der Linden, L., Szmalec, A., & Duyck, W. (2015). Verbal and nonverbal cognitive control in bilinguals and interpreters. Journal of Experimental Psychology-Learning Memory and Cognition, 41(5), 1579–1586. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Yang, S. J., & Yang, H. J. (2016). Bilingual effects on deployment of the attention system in linguistically and culturally homogeneous children and adults. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 146, 121–136. DOI logoGoogle Scholar