Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism - Volume 14, Issue 3, 2024

A hallmark of word naming in deep orthographies, effects of spelling-sound regularity and consistency are considered to reach stability in adulthood. We investigated whether these effects were modulated by second language (L2) proficiency in native English and native Spanish speakers. Participants named English, Spanish and language-ambiguous words, but only the English words were used in the analysis. Participants in each group named English words with irregular-inconsistent mappings (e.g., PINT) more slowly and less accurately than words with regular-consistent mappings (e.g., GATE). Higher English proficiency reduced the magnitude of the regularity-consistency effect in both groups. Critically, native English speakers revealed a U-shaped relationship between L2-Spanish proficiency and the regularity-consistency effect on naming latencies. The current findings add to a growing body of literature that considers the boundaries within which L2 proficiency can influence native language (L1) performance. Results suggest that L2 proficiency may destabilize a fundamental aspect of L1 literacy, the computation of phonology from text, which is known as a highly stable psycholinguistic effect. This suggests that the language system is dynamic, remaining plastic in early adulthood.

While the Minimalist Program argues that Spanish-English code-switches between pronominal subjects and finite verbs are ungrammatical (Van Gelderen & MacSwan, 2008), the MLF/4-M models (Myers-Scotton, 1993; Myers-Scotton & Jake, 2000) predict their grammaticality when overt pronouns are obligatory in both languages (e.g., contrastive focus). In this study, we test the contrary predictions of these models using a code-switching production task. Thirty-eight Spanish-English bilinguals (31 female; Age: 18–23 years) completed a concurrent memory-loaded repetition task where visual primes forced broad or contrastive focus interpretations. We also examined the effects of switch direction, code-switching frequency, and language dominance. The results showed that code-switches between a Spanish overt pronoun and an English inflected verb were more accurately produced in the contrastive focus than the broad focus condition, lending support for the MLF/4-M models. No effect of code-switching frequency was found. Finally, higher Spanish dominance resulted in more accurate production of these code-switches.

The present study uses the apparent-time construct to analyze cross-generational variability of word order in unergative and unaccusative constructions in Basque (e.g., negar ein ‘to cry’ and heldu ‘to arrive’, respectively). It considers the results of an acceptability judgment as well as elicitation tasks carried out among two generations of Basque native speakers (55–75 years old, and 35–45 years old). Unlike the younger participants, the older participants lack the syntactic focus strategy. It is proposed that this lack among the older participants was conditioned by the socially restricted bilingualism that they experienced during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1939–1975), while the younger participants appeared to have acquired (i.e. recovered) the syntactic focus strategy because they experienced the legitimacy and vitality of Basque in public life and in formal education following the Normalization Law of 1982. Studies in Basque sociolinguistics have identified language changes through feature loss, dialectal leveling and contact-induced change, but no studies to date have identified the recovery of a previously lost syntactic structure.

It is well established that early bilinguals who speak languages that differ in the phonetic implementation of the voicing contrast have language-specific voicing systems. This study investigates voicing separation in bilinguals who speak two true-voicing languages, Basque and Spanish. We also describe the voicing system in Gipuzkoan Spanish and Gipuzkoan Basque, which is the closest dialect to Standard Basque and it has not yet been investigated experimentally. Twenty Basque-Spanish early bilingual speakers of Gipuzkoan dialects participated in two picture naming tasks. We described their voicing system by measuring voice onset time (VOT) in both Gipuzkoan Basque and Spanish, and used linear mixed-effects models to investigate between-language production differences. Our results show for the first time that adult early bilinguals who speak two true-voicing languages produce language-specific VOT in ‘voiced’ plosives. This finding demonstrates that bilinguals’ phonetic systems during production are more fine-grained than previously assumed, and contributes to a deeper understanding of granularity in early bilingual phonetic systems.

Significant variation exists in bilinguals’ experiences with code-switching, from dense code-switching in multiple interactional contexts to minimal switching. Although recent research has demonstrated that a bilingual’s experience with code-switching is a crucial factor for determining both linguistic and cognitive behaviors, there currently is no commonly accepted method of measuring of a bilingual’s code-switching practices. Responding to this need, this paper presents a new tool to assess a bilingual’s experience and engagement with code-switching – the Bilingual Code-Switching Profile (BCSP) – and assesses its validity and reliability. The BCSP incorporates a multifaceted conceptualization of code-switching experience, drawing on previous research in bilingual proficiency, and addresses a bilingual’s code-switching history, use, proficiency, and attitudes. To assess the validity and reliability of the BCSP, Spanish–English bilinguals (N = 454) from a wide range of ages, ethnic backgrounds, national origins, and language dominance profiles completed the questionnaire. Results of an exploratory factor analysis and intraclass correlation on test-retest data (N = 248) demonstrate that the BCSP is a valid and reliable method of assessing a bilingual’s code-switching profile. The BCSP can be easily and practically incorporated into future research on bilinguals to provide a systematic measure of an individual’s code-switching profile.