Link between Verbal Fluency and Phonological Short-Term...

Each time a bilingual speaks its brain functions in slightly different ways than that of a monolingual’s. Bilinguals deal with constant dual-language activation as they are able to switch between two sometimes very different languages. The ability to use one language without intrusions from the other language is seen as an important topic of study (Van Assche, Duyck, and Gollan, 2013). However, one of the costs of being bilingual is the reduced exposure to each language. Studies show that both sequential and simultaneous bilinguals score lower on vocabulary measures than monolinguals (Rosselli et al., 200 as cited in Kaushankaya, Blumenfeld and Marian, 2011). Strong evidence for weakened vocabulary performance in bilinguals comes from†¦show more content†¦Lexical representations are classified for language membership after receiving syntactic properties (lemmas). This enables the bilingual person to produce language in a selective manner. Furthermore, bilinguals use t ask schemas and a Supervisory Attentional System to create, retrieve and, if necessary to adapt these task schemas. Because bilinguals cannot completely turn off one language the letter version of the verbal fluency task used in the present study activates twice as many lexical representations in bilinguals than in monolinguals. This will lead to a greater degree of competition for activation across languages hence the effect of subject type (Van Assche et al., 2013). In the present research bilinguals’ and monolinguals’ verbal fluency is tested using a classic letter fluency task. According to the literature bilinguals have a disadvantage in Vocabulary acquisition that we expect to see manifest in their Verbal Fluency Task scores. Kaushankaya et al. (2011) were interested in the link between phonological short term memory and vocabulary development in children and word learning in adults that has been found in previous research (Gathercole and Adams, 1993,1994; Servic e and Martin, 1997). For example, adults’ nonword repetition performance predicted their ability to learn novel words in a foreign language (Speciale, Ellis and Bywater, 2004 as cited in Kaushankaya et al.). Similarly, Rosen and Engle (1997) foundShow MoreRelatedThe Role Of Inhibitory Modulation Of Languages Among Bilinguals7013 Words   |  29 PagesThe Role of Inhibitory Modulation of Languages among Bilinguals In a rich linguistic environment, where more than 7000 languages are spoken in 149 countries, multilingualism and bilingualism are inevitable (Crystal, 2003; Grosjean, 2010). While the causes of increased bilingualism and multilingualism can vary, the repercussions of this demographic shift are wide reaching (O’Brien, Curtin, Naqvi, 2014). Consequently, research on bilingualism and multilingualism has also dramatically increased in