This study investigates cross-linguistic influence in L2 prediction: specifically, the hypothesis that first language (L1) speakers of a verb-final language are less likely to use verb information for real-time prediction in a verb-medial (SVO) second language (L2; & Scedil;afak & Hopp, 2023). Two groups of L2 learners of Mandarin (L1 English, SVO; L1 Japanese/Korean, SOV) participated in a visual world eye-tracking experiment to measure their anticipatory fixations on upcoming arguments following dative verbs with categorical or gradient constraints. Results indicate both groups made predictive use of categorical constraints of non-alternating verbs, with no evident between-group differences. Following alternating verbs with gradient constraints, both groups showed a general predictive bias for prepositional dative constructions. These findings indicate that lack of experience with verb-based prediction in the L1 is not a hinderance to predictive use of verb-based cues in an L2.
Abstract This meta-analysis examines advanced second language (L2) performance from the perspective of feature reassembly, investigating how reassembly requirements, overtness, and methodological factors influence acquisition difficulty. We synthesized 25 empirical studies yielding 38 effect sizes ( N = 1,306). Results show no statistically significant difference ( g = −0.092, p = .305) between advanced L2 learners and native speakers. Reassembly requirements do not directly modulate difficulty, but task type does: while learners achieve native-like performance in Form-Focused tasks ( g = 0.144, p = .348), a non-significant negative trend is observed in Appropriateness ( g = −0.323, p = .200), and significant deficits emerge in Meaning-Mapping tasks ( g = −0.679, p = .003). Furthermore, exploratory analyses reveal the transition from L1 overt to L2 non-overt features remains the sole path exhibiting significant deficits ( p = .033). We interpret these results through a multi-dimensional framework involving interface-level complexity, communicative competence, typological distance, and the cognitive costs of feature recognition and inhibition.
Abstract Reliably characterizing bilingual ecologies and developing models of language activation requires metrics for code-switching (CS). This study charts the time course of CS, plotting multi-word switches by intervening distance, using Intonation Units (prosodic speech chunks) as the token level. Drawing on a community in which CS is an ingroup discourse mode, three datasets of bilingual speech are compared. The datasets were chosen to differ in the proportions of the two languages (from balanced to skewed) and the proportion of switch points (from under .05 to over .15). Despite differences in language distribution and CS frequency, CS appears bursty: clusters of activity interspersed between longer unilingual stretches. This intrinsic burstiness indicates that ‘dense CS’ is dense successions of instances separated by long gaps. If parallel activation of two languages fluctuates regardless of situational context, then rather than moving into and out of bilingual mode, bilinguals may move along a fluctuating bilingual mode.
Bilingualism research sits at the intersection of linguistics, cognitive neuroscience, and psychology, yet these disciplines often operate in relative isolation, limiting explanatory power and theoretical progress. This paper argues that deeper, more purposeful cross-fertilization among these fields is both possible and necessary to address some of the most pressing questions in the study of bilingualism. After establishing a shared foundation through a concise history of mind-brain-language inquiry, we outline the componential architecture of language - spanning phonology, syntax, morphology, semantics, and pragmatics - to underscore the linguistic sophistication required for meaningful neuroscientific investigation. We then review the neuroanatomical substrates of language representation, processing, and cognitive control, emphasizing distributed network models over classical localizationist accounts. The contribution of electroencephalography (EEG) is examined, including event-related potentials, oscillatory dynamics, and resting-state measures, highlighting their capacity to capture how bilingual experience reshapes linguistic processing and neural function over time and at the individual level. Two exemplars operationalize our convergence argument. Exemplar 1 demonstrates how early brain states measured via EEG can predict individual differences in bilingual linguistic developmental trajectories, offering prospective, mechanistic insights that retrospective adult studies cannot. Exemplar 2 illustrates how linguistically principled formalization of relative linguistic typological distance (RLTD) is indispensable for studies seeking to link cross-language structural differences to bilingualism-induced neurocognitive adaptations. Together, these cases show that linguistics needs neuroscience to ground its constructs in neural mechanisms, while neuroscience needs linguistics to properly characterize what is being processed. Genuine interdisciplinary integration, not parallel inquiry, is the path forward for bilingualism research.
This mixed-methods study investigates how bilingual exposure and Theory of Mind (ToM) in autistic and neurotypical children relate to two dimensions of narrative coherence (i.e., referential and causal coherence). Study 1 analysed oral narratives from 34 children (7 autistic, 27 neurotypical) using regression modelling. Results indicated that diagnostic group predicted referential coherence, with autistic children scoring lower after controlling for age and vocabulary. Both first- and second-order ToM were associated with referential coherence in autistic children but not neurotypical peers. No group difference emerged for causal coherence, which was predicted by age, vocabulary, and heritage language exposure. An exploratory follow-up of eight children approximately one year later found that all four children who improved in causal coherence were bilingual, a pattern descriptively consistent with the results of Study 1. These findings highlight the value of examining referential and causal coherence as distinct dimensions with different predictor profiles, and of modelling bilingual exposure as a continuous construct in research on children's narrative development.
