Recherche en cours
The Bilingual Mental Lexicon
In this research project we are investigating the lexical organization of English-French bilinguals and L2 learners and how lexical organization in these groups compares to that of monolinguals. A critical component of this research is that it also examines the effect of age of acquisition (AoA) of the L2. AoA will not only be separated into early vs. late learners as in much of the literature in the field, but will also include a large-scale analysis into the precise effects of becoming bilingual at any time along a continuum between birth and adulthood.
Researcher: Laura Sabourin |
Code-switching: Is it cognitively taxing?
Several imminent studies have illustrated that code-switching (i.e., alternating between multiple languages) is more cognitively costly to process than unilingual speech. This introduces a seemingly counter-intuitive paradox: if code-switching truly is effortful, why would bilinguals do it in the first place? In our study, we compare bilinguals who mix their languages on a daily basis (habitual code-switchers) to those who only seldom do (non-habitual code-switchers). More often than not, the factor of switching frequency has not been considered in the literature. We suggest that cognitive effort, as indexed by the classical N400 ERP component, will not be resent for habitual code-switchers. Preliminary data collected up to this point supports this hypothesis.
Researchers: Leah Gosselin and Laura Sabourin
Researchers: Leah Gosselin and Laura Sabourin
The role of Manner of Acquisition on grammatical gender processing
Previous research has demonstrated that highly proficient second language (L2) speakers of a gendered language, whose first language (L1) does not contain gender, use feminine and masculine gender cues to facilitate processing of upcoming nouns. However, studies have not specifically focused on the impact of Manner of Acquisition (MoA, the way a language is learned). Specifically, Canada is home to a wide variety of school-based French language programs, where a large portion of the population learns and acquires French as an L2. Yet, the way in which these speakers process their L2 when it is learned in various bilingual environments remains unclear. Therefore, the current study explores how speakers who completed a school-based French language program (e.g., core French, French immersion) processes grammatical gender.
Researchers: Gabrielle Manning and Laura Sabourin
Researchers: Gabrielle Manning and Laura Sabourin