Language distance and bilingual language processing

Do bilinguals access information from both languages when they encounter a word in one of the languages they speak, or only information from the target language? Previous research suggests that both languages are co-activated when bilinguals process linguistic input in one of their languages (de Groot et al., 2000). Related to this topic is the question of how languages are organised in the bilingual mental lexicon.

Recent models of the bilingual mental lexicon assume integration of a bilingual's languages (e.g., Bilingual Interactive Activation (BIA)+, Dijkstra & van Heuven, 2002; Multilink, Dijkstra et al., 2019).

However, such generalisations about the bilingual experience have often been made focusing on bilinguals of typologically related languages, e.g., Dutch-English. Words from unrelated languages might be less likely to be co-activated (Cenoz, 2003) or stored separately in the bilingual lexicon (de Bot, 1992; Paradis, 1987). Still, these assumptions have not been studied thoroughly.

Hence, both questions regarding language co-activation and integration in the bilingual mental lexicon are yet to be rigorously examined by focusing on how the relationship between a bilingual's languages might affect lexical processing and representation. This research project focuses on filling this gap in research on bilingual language processing, exploring word recognition in bilinguals of un/related languages.

Bilingual lexical access during reading will be explored, specifically, how bilinguals process across-linguistically ambiguous words: cognates - words with the same spelling and meaning across languages, e.g., doctor in Spanish and English - and interlingual homographs (IHs) - words with identical spelling but different meanings, e.g., bay, gentleman in Turkish.

Cognates and IHs enable measurement and assessment of the extent to which language coactivation and integration occur in bilinguals.

Language co-activation and integration in the bilingual lexicon will be explored in bilinguals with differing typological distances between their first (L1) and second languages (L2). Two studies will be conducted: Study 1, comparing L1 Catalan-L2 Spanish bilinguals (relatedlanguages) and L1 Basque-L2 Spanish bilinguals (unrelated languages); and Study 2, comparing L1 Spanish-L2 English bilinguals (related languages) and L1 Turkish-L2 English bilinguals (unrelated languages).

Potential differences that may arise between both studies can test the robustness of a possible effect of typological distance on bilingual language processing, controlling for extraneous factors. Language background questionnaires (e.g., LEAP-Q, Marian et al., 2007) and L2 lexical proficiency tests (LexTALE, Lemhöfer &

Broersma, 2012; Lextale-Esp, Izura et al., 2014) will be employed to control for differences in L2 proficiency, age of acquisition, and language use and exposure.

Following previous assumptions about language typology and bilingualism (Cenoz, 2003; de Bot, 1992; Paradis, 1987), my prediction is that bilinguals of unrelated languages will

experience less language co-activation in a separately organised bilingual lexicon than bilinguals of related languages. Therefore, Basque-Spanish and Turkish-English bilinguals

will activate both languages less often than Catalan-Spanish and Spanish-English bilinguals, respectively. This research will advance understanding of the bilingual mental lexicon and

language processing in bilingual populations, by investigating a largely overlooked factor: language typology and its relationship with processing and representation in bilinguals.