title: An Interaction Between the Effects of Bilingualism and Cross-linguistic Similarity in Balanced and Unbalanced Bilingual Adults' L2 Mandarin Word-Reading Production.
abstract: We conducted three experiments investigating in more detail the interaction between the two effects of bilingualism and L1-L2 similarity in the speech performance of balanced and unbalanced bilinguals. In Experiment 1, L1 Mandarin monolinguals and two groups of Hakka and Minnan balanced bilinguals (Hakka: more similar to Mandarin) performed a non-contextual single-character reading task in Mandarin, which required more inhibitory control. The two bilingual groups outperformed the monolinguals, regardless of their L1 background. However, the bilingual advantage was not found in a contextual multi-word task (Experiment 2), but instead the effect of cross-linguistic similarity emerged. Furthermore, in Experiment 3, the Hakka unbalanced bilinguals showed an advantage in the non-contextual task, while their Minnan counterparts did not, and the impact of L1-L2 similarity emerged in both tasks. These results unveiled the way the two effects dynamically interplayed depending on the task contexts and the relative degrees of using L1 and L2.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Foreign Languages, National Penghu University of Science and Technology, No.300, Liuhe Rd., Magong City, Penghu County, 880, Taiwan, ROC. bbshally@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Hsiu-Ling
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: Hsu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D008875:Middle Aged; D019303:Multilingualism; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology*; D011932:Reading; D012660:Semantics; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Bilingualism; Cognitive control; Cross-linguistic similarity; Self-repair