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Interaction between grammatical categories and cognition in bilinguals: the role of proficiency, cultural immersion, and language of instruction

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Interaction between grammatical categories and cognition in bilinguals: the role of proficiency, cultural immersion, and language of instruction. / Athanasopoulos, Panos.
In: Language and Cognitive Processes, Vol. 22, No. 5, 2007, p. 689-699.

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@article{8939ebb93c1c47c391180fec5bd5edb8,
title = "Interaction between grammatical categories and cognition in bilinguals: the role of proficiency, cultural immersion, and language of instruction",
abstract = "Previous studies have demonstrated that there is a tight link between grammatical concepts and cognitive preferences in monolingual speakers (Lucy 1992, Lucy & Gaskins 2003, Imai & Gentner 1997, Imai & Mazuka 2003). Recent research has also shown that bilinguals with languages that differ in their concepts may shift their cognitive preferences as a function of their proficiency (Athanasopoulos, 2006) or cultural immersion (Cook, Bassetti, Kasai, Sasaki, & Takahashi, 2006). The current short paper assesses the relative impact of each of these variables, and furthermore asks whether bilinguals alternate between two distinct cognitive representations of language-specific concepts depending on the language used in the experiment. Results from an object classification task showed that Japanese–English bilinguals shifted their behaviour towards the second language (L2) pattern primarily as a function of their L2 proficiency, while cultural immersion and language of instruction played a minimal role. These findings suggest that acquisition of novel grammatical categories leads to cognitive restructuring in the bilingual mind and have implications for the relationship between language and cognitive processing.",
author = "Panos Athanasopoulos",
year = "2007",
doi = "10.1080/01690960601049347",
language = "English",
volume = "22",
pages = "689--699",
journal = "Language and Cognitive Processes",
issn = "0169-0965",
publisher = "Psychology Press Ltd",
number = "5",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Interaction between grammatical categories and cognition in bilinguals

T2 - the role of proficiency, cultural immersion, and language of instruction

AU - Athanasopoulos, Panos

PY - 2007

Y1 - 2007

N2 - Previous studies have demonstrated that there is a tight link between grammatical concepts and cognitive preferences in monolingual speakers (Lucy 1992, Lucy & Gaskins 2003, Imai & Gentner 1997, Imai & Mazuka 2003). Recent research has also shown that bilinguals with languages that differ in their concepts may shift their cognitive preferences as a function of their proficiency (Athanasopoulos, 2006) or cultural immersion (Cook, Bassetti, Kasai, Sasaki, & Takahashi, 2006). The current short paper assesses the relative impact of each of these variables, and furthermore asks whether bilinguals alternate between two distinct cognitive representations of language-specific concepts depending on the language used in the experiment. Results from an object classification task showed that Japanese–English bilinguals shifted their behaviour towards the second language (L2) pattern primarily as a function of their L2 proficiency, while cultural immersion and language of instruction played a minimal role. These findings suggest that acquisition of novel grammatical categories leads to cognitive restructuring in the bilingual mind and have implications for the relationship between language and cognitive processing.

AB - Previous studies have demonstrated that there is a tight link between grammatical concepts and cognitive preferences in monolingual speakers (Lucy 1992, Lucy & Gaskins 2003, Imai & Gentner 1997, Imai & Mazuka 2003). Recent research has also shown that bilinguals with languages that differ in their concepts may shift their cognitive preferences as a function of their proficiency (Athanasopoulos, 2006) or cultural immersion (Cook, Bassetti, Kasai, Sasaki, & Takahashi, 2006). The current short paper assesses the relative impact of each of these variables, and furthermore asks whether bilinguals alternate between two distinct cognitive representations of language-specific concepts depending on the language used in the experiment. Results from an object classification task showed that Japanese–English bilinguals shifted their behaviour towards the second language (L2) pattern primarily as a function of their L2 proficiency, while cultural immersion and language of instruction played a minimal role. These findings suggest that acquisition of novel grammatical categories leads to cognitive restructuring in the bilingual mind and have implications for the relationship between language and cognitive processing.

U2 - 10.1080/01690960601049347

DO - 10.1080/01690960601049347

M3 - Journal article

VL - 22

SP - 689

EP - 699

JO - Language and Cognitive Processes

JF - Language and Cognitive Processes

SN - 0169-0965

IS - 5

ER -