Agnieszka Ewa Tytus

Rising to the bilingual challenge: self-reported experiences of managing life with two languages

ABSTRACT A recent surge of findings on bilingual cognitive advantage has attracted attention from both researchers and the media. An advantage has been demonstrated with regard to, inter alia, inhibiting, switching, monitoring and updating. However, Paap et al. argue that the advantage does not exist or is only limited to executive functioning. Both sides of the debate are well grounded in research. Nevertheless, what seems to be missing from the current discussion is the voice of bilingual speakers, that is , how they manage life with two languages and if they perceive any cognitive, social or economic advantages or indeed, disadvantages of knowing two languages more than one language. Here, I report on an extensive questionnaire in which German–English participants reflected upon their use of languages and the particular benefits as well as the challenges they face. Constructs, such as inhibition, retrieval of words language mixing were explored. It has been elicited that all participants considered knowledge of two languages to be highly advantageous despite encountering occasional problems in the form of: tip of the tongue states, code switching or relying on literal translation. In general, all participants agreed that the positive aspects of being bilingual greatly outweigh the negatives.

How Cross-Linguistic Differences in the Grammaticalization of Future Time Reference Influence Intertemporal Choices

According to Chens (2013) Linguistic Savings Hypothesis (LSH), our native language affects our economic behavior. We present three studies investigating how cross-linguistic differences in the grammaticalization of future-time reference (FTR) affect intertemporal choices. In a series of decision scenarios about finance and health issues, we let speakers of altogether five languages that represent FTR with increasing strength, that is, Chinese, German, Danish, Spanish, and English, choose between hypothetical sooner-smaller and later-larger reward options. While the LSH predicts a present-bias that increases with FTR-strength, our decision makers preferred later-larger options and this future-bias increased with FTR-strength. In multiple regressions, the FTR-strength effect persisted when controlled for socioeconomic and cultural differences. We discuss why our findings deviate from the LSH and ask in how far the FTR-strength effect represents a habitual constitution of linguistic relativity or an instance of online decision framing.

Acquisition of sociolinguistic awareness by German learners of English: A study in perceptions of quotative be like

Abstract This article examines the perception of the quotatives be like and say among German learners of English. We compare their evaluations with findings made for native-speakers of English (Buchstaller 2014). We also attempt to pinpoint the factors underlying successful acquisition of social judgements on variation. Data comes from written verbal guise tests in which participants rated stimuli doublets, each containing only one of the quotative variants, on multiple social attribute scales. Broadly, learner evaluations seem to match those of native speakers, in that speakers using be like are considered more fashionable, extroverted, etc. and less educated, pleasant, etc. than speakers using say. Learners have also developed notions about typical users of the two quotatives. We argue that the acquisition of social meanings is mediated by a combination of factors that involve, among others, proficiency and length of time spent abroad and potentially interlanguage processes that result in the creation of new meanings. Moreover, we suggest that the learners re-analyze the native-like meanings attached to linguistic variants in their L2 grammars and create new meanings that draw on resources available in their learner ecology. We call this interlanguage ideological extension. Finally, the paper raises the question of the role played by the local – German – language ideologies in the development of L2 social meanings, and points to the urgent need for further experimental work on interlanguage attitudes.

The bi-personal bilingual: a study of the perceived feeling of a changed self

ABSTRACT It has been a topic in psychiatry, it is referred to by translingual writers, and bilinguals report it frequently – the feeling of becoming a different person when using a different language. The present study was set out to investigate the reasons behind this feeling. We looked at the effects of biculturalism and personality traits, as well as introspective data from 88 German–English bilinguals. The analyses revealed no significant effects of biculturalism. However, an effect was found between high levels of Agreeableness and an affirmative answer to the feeling of a changed self. Furthermore, an integrated approach suggests that four main categories play a vital role in giving rise to this feeling, namely cultural differences, language proficiency, ‘breaking free’ from the L1 personality, and changes in personality due to reactions of interlocutors.

Active and dormant languages in the multilingual mental lexicon

ABSTRACT Two experimental paradigms, a picture-naming task and a Stroop interference task, were employed to address the structure of the multilingual mental lexicon; more specifically, the process of multilingual non-selective lexical access. German-English-French speakers named objects in their native and most dominant language in a task that included a manipulation of triple (Wein, wine, vin) and double cognates (Beere, berry or Zitrone, citron). The vocal Stroop task was administered in both within- and between-language conditions to explore the interference patterns between the languages. In general, it was hypothesised that differing levels of language proficiency will play an integral role in the observed results. The speech onset times were measured for both tasks and pointed to complex interaction patterns. German and English were seen as the most active and prone to interference systems, whilst French appeared more as a dormant language that does not exert much influence on the other two systems.