Wallace E. Lambert

Interlingual Interference in a Bilingual Version of the Stroop Color-Word Task.

The present study examines the functional relations between the bilinguals two languages. These experiments attempt to determine whether the activation of one language system makes the other language system inoperative. To accomplish this, a bilingual version of the Stroop color-word task was employed. In the monolingual version, S is asked to name the ink colors of words printed on a card. The S s find this difficult since the words themselves are the names of colors. In the bilingual version, two cards are used each containing words from one language only. Bilingual S s name the colors of words on both cards at some point in the experiment, once in each language. Interest centers on comparing performance in the intralingual tasks with the interlingual tasks. In general, the results show that interference in the interlingual situation is in some cases as large as in the intralingual situation. The pattern, however, depends on the degree of skill in the two languages as well as stimulus similarities on the two cards.

Dual Coding and Bilingual Memory.

Two experiments compared the effects of verbal—nonverbal and bilingual dual coding on recall. Experiment 1 required French—English bilinguals to code a mixed list of pictures, French words, and English words by writing the English names of the pictures, translating the French words, and copying the English words. The participants were then asked unexpectedly to recall the generated English words. Experiment 2 reversed the coding task in that bilinguals were presented only English words along with coding cues that prompted them to sketch the refrents of one-third of the items, translate another third into French, and copy a third. The incidental memory test in this case required the participants to free recall the English words they had been presented. Both experiments showed that item recall increased significantly from unilingual to bilingual to verbal—nonverbal dual coding. The results favored a bilingual version of dual-coding theory over levels-of-processing and generation-effort interpretations.

Language processing in bilinguals

Abstract The present study investigated the language processing strategies of three subgroups of adult bilinguals with different histories of language acquisition: infant bilinguals whose bilinguality dated from infancy; childhood bilinguals who became bilingual around 5 years of age; and adolescent bilinguals who had become bilingual at secondary school age only. All were completely balanced bilinguals in French and English at the time of testing. The experimental procedure, a language recognition task, required the subjects to indicate, by pressing a response button, whether each of a series of words, presented monaurally through earphones, was French or English. Concomitantly, left and right hemisphere EEG activity was monitored, with measures taken of latency to N1, latency to P2, and N1-P2 peak-to-peak amplitudes. Results indicated shorter latencies to N1 in the left than in the right hemisphere for the infant and childhood bilinguals but shorter latencies in the right hemisphere for the adolescent bilinguals. Overall, the N1 latency was shorter for the adolescent subgroup than for the two other subgroups. There were no RT differences. The findings appear to reflect strategy differences: The adolescent group seemed to rely more on a right hemisphere-based, possibly more gestalt-like or melodic strategy, while the early bilinguals relied more on a left hemisphere-based, possibly semantic or analytic type of strategy. The results are discussed in terms of previous research on bilingual subtypes and general forms of language processing among bilinguals.

Coping with cultural and racial diversity in urban America.

The American Challenge: Assimilation or Multiculturalism Methodological Approach Ethnic Immigrant Groups in Hamtramck: Polish, Arab, and Albanian Arab Americans Ethnic Immigrant Groups in Pontiac: Mexican and Puerto Rican Americans The Perspectives of Mainstream White Americans The Perspectives of Black Americans Two Faces of Multiculturalism: Sobering Reflections and Exciting Possibilities Bibliography Index

Bilingual organization in free recall

Two groups of Ss, one bilingual in English and French, the other in English and Russian, were tested individually and presented different types of 40-item lists of common words with instructions for free recall. Some were Category lists—those with four sets of 10 words each concerned with a distinctive class of events—and some were No-Category lists—those with 40 items selected so as not to suggest distinctive semantic categories. For the No-Category case, one list was in English, one in French (or Russian) and one “mixed,” i.e., including items from both languages. For the Category case, one list was in English, one in the other language, one mixed but Concordant, i.e., particular semantic categories were in one language while other categories were in the other language, and one mixed so that language and semantic content were Discordant, i.e., within a category items were drawn from both languages. Attention was given to the number of items correctly recalled, the types of errors made, the extent of both category and language clustering. Various results suggest that organization according to semantic categories is a more useful schema than is language for bilinguals. However, the bilingual nature of the mixed lists does not disrupt recall in the No-Category condition although it can be a disruption when demands for reorganization are strong, as is the case in the Category conditions. Nevertheless, the bilingual still profits from the organizational possibilities of the Category lists, even in the discordant case, indicating that an associationistic interpretation of category clustering is insufficient.

Differential cerebral involvement in the cognitive functioning of bilinguals.

Abstract The cognitive processing strategies of two groups of French-English bilinguals were studied by means of an auditory Stroop test designed to evaluate cerebral hemispheric involvement. An “early bilingual” group were bilingual before the age of 5, and a “late bilingual” group were bilingual after the age of 10. Stimuli were words uttered in pitches that were related to word meanings either congruently (as in the word “high” uttered in a high pitch) or incongruently (the word “haute” uttered in a low pitch). In one condition, subjects were to differentiate low from high pitches, disregarding meaning, while in a second condition, they were to disregard pitch and respond to word meanings. Measures of field independence were also taken. Results of data analyses suggest that male early bilinguals—the most field independent subgroup—process meaning efficiently in both cerebral hemispheres, but process pitch better in the right hemisphere. However, male late bilinguals and female bilinguals, both early and late, process meaning more rapidly in the right cerebral hemisphere and pitch equally rapidly in both hemispheres. The findings are interpreted as reflecting hemisphere-based strategy and sex differences in information-processing by the two bilingual groups.

Bilingual Interdependencies in Auditory Perception

Abstract : Using an auditory and bilingual version of the Stroop test, it was found that the semantic characteristics of verbal stimuli and the context of the task increase latencies above those of control conditions where tones are used instead of words. The results thus support earlier studies showing that bilingual Ss are unable to ignore the semantic aspects of stimuli, even though they have no difficulty in keeping their two languages functionally separated. Physical characteristics of stimulus words have some interference effect, but much less than the semantic factor. How the use of two languages affects interference is not clear; possibly attention thresholds are changed. An explanation in terms of priming seems inadequate since the latencies of wrong responses are shorter than those of correct (i.e., primed) responses. (Author)

BILINGUALISM AND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

This conference is unique in my experience because it brings together two relatively unacquainted groups of behavioral scientists, one comprising those who specialize in the fascinating and still largely mysterious process of first-language acquisition and the other comprising those who specialize in the doubly fascinating and mysterious process of second-language acquisition and bilingualism. What links these two groups is a common interest in the developmental sweep of events that characterizes infancy and youth. The hope of the conference planners is that our interchange of experiences will form a new basis of attack on the many mysteries that still exist in both research domains. I share that hope because there are prospects now that an interchange can be mutually beneficial. For a long time, those of us interested in second languages and bilingualism had few models to turn to except those dealing with first-language acquisition; but times have changed, and we now have some ideas of our own about the languageacquisition process that can be useful to those exploring first language. In fact, I’m biased enough to argue that we in the bilingual domain may be getting into the more interesting and richer aspects of language. This comparative richness and complexity of the bilingual domain, however, takes many of us far away from the microtextures of codes to much broader issues. For instance, as social psychologists, we view language acquisition as inextricably associated with matters like ethnolinguistic identity, with problems of communication between language groups, with membership or quasi membership in more than one cultural group, with ethnolinguisticgroup contacts, with shared versus distinctive group values, etc. Then, as psychologists, we view language as one aspect of cognition, inextricably tied to thought. These wider ranging concerns of course can take us too far away from the details of code acquisition, making our work vulnerable to the criticism that we are preoccupied prematurely with macro issues while the associated micro issues still are understood poorly. What I hope to do is demonstrate how necessary both macro and micro approaches are to a real understanding of the developmental sweep of events in which we all share an interest. My plan is to describe bilingualism and language acquisition as separate developmental processes and to focus on the ways in which the two processes interact.

Free recall of bilinguals

Bilinguals were required to free-recall lists of words in each of their languages and also bilingual lists. It has been found that bilinguals recalled fewer words from lists in their weaker language and from bilingual lists only if list words could be grouped into semantic categories. These differences between language conditions failed to appear on “non-category” lists and the present results supported this finding. In an effort to discover why these differences appeared on category lists, the steps of detecting the nature of the categories and of reshuffling the words into categories were isolated. Aid in detecting the categories did not significantly improve performance but presenting the words grouped by categories did. However, blocking improved recall equally in all three language conditions. Therefore, it was argued that the inferior recall of category lists which were in a weaker language or bilingual was not due to greater difficulty in reorganizing the words during list presentation. Other possible explanations were suggested.

The Meaning of Multiculturalism in a Culturally Diverse Urban American Area

Abstract A crisis in North America revolves around how immigrants, established ethnic groups, and aboriginal people accommodate, and are accommodated by, the majority groups in society. Ethnic minorities appear motivated to retain their heritage culture and language, and this objective is often perceived as a threat to majority groups and to national unity. In the present study, the precise meaning that ethnic groups in Miami (Cuban, Nicaraguan, and Haitian women) attach to heritage culture and language maintenance and the views of the key majority groups (Black and White women) were examined. An unanticipated level of consensus emerged. All agreed that it is appropriate for heritage cultures and languages to be maintained in the home. Also, there was a consensus that groups should retain their distinctiveness in contexts outside the home when their group is in the majority. However, there was also unanimity in the belief that in the public domain, U.S. culture and the English language should predominate.