This document discusses bilingualism and some key issues related to being bilingual. It defines bilingualism as using two languages that differ in sounds, vocabulary and syntax. It distinguishes between additive bilingualism, where a second language is acquired without loss to the first language, and subtractive bilingualism, where the new language replaces the first. The document also discusses advantages of bilingualism like increased cognitive flexibility and sensitivity to language pragmatics, as well as potential minor disadvantages like slightly slower language processing. Finally, it covers the concept of code switching, where bilinguals switch between languages when speaking to other bilinguals.

1. BILINGUALISM
SAHLA ABDURAHMAN

2. – A bilingual speaker is a person who uses two languages that differ in
speech sounds, vocabulary, and syntax.
– The term multilingual refers to someone who uses more than two
languages – but psycholinguists often use the term bilingual
– The bilingual’s native language is referred as the first language or L1
and the non-native language is the second language or L2.

3. – Research on Bilingualism By Wallace Lambert – Received the
1990 Distinguished Scientific Award for the Applications of
Psychology – given by APA
– Lambert introduced an important distinction between additive and
subtractive bilingualism
– Additive bilingualism – Individual acquires proficiency in a second
language with no loss in his/her first language.
– For example – English speakers in Quebec usually learn French if
they run a business.

4. – Subtractive bilingualism – the new language replaces the first
language.
– Bilingualism has important political and social psychological
implications, especially when educators and politicians make
statements about various ethnic groups
– Important predictors in acquiring a second language is a person’s
attitude toward the people who speak that language.

5. – Researchers predicted ability of English Canadian high-school
students in learning French.
– Student’s attitude toward French Canadians was just important as
their cognitive, language learning aptitude.
– The relationship between attitudes and language proficiency also
works in the reverse -----; elementary school English Canadians
who learn French develop a positive attitudes toward French
Canadians than do children in a control group.

6. Three cognitive issues:
– The advantages and disadvantages of bilingualism
– Code switching
– An in-depth consideration of the relationship between age
of acquisition and proficiency in the second language

7. 1. Advantages and Disadvantages of Bilingualism
– In addition to gaining fluency in second language, bilinguals seem to have a no. of advantages
over monolinguals.
1) Bilinguals acquire more expertise in their native (first) language. For e.g. English-speaking
Canadian children whose classes are taught in French gain greater understanding of English
language structure.
2) Bilinguals are more aware that the name assigned to concepts are arbitrary. For e.g.
monolingual children cannot imagine that a cow could just as easily have been assigned the
name, dog.
3) Bilingual children are more sensitive to some pragmatic aspects of language. For e.g.
English-speaking children whose classes are taught in French are more aware that when
they speak to a blindfolded child, they need to supply additional information.

8. 4) Bilingual children are more likely to show cognitive flexibility on
tests of creativity, such as thinking of a wide variety of different uses
for s paper clip.
5) Bilinguals also perform better on tests of nonverbal intelligence
that require reorganization of visual patterns, and on concept
formation tasks that require mental flexibility.

9. Disadvantages
– Bilingual who use two languages extensively may subtly alter their
pronunciation of some speech sounds in both languages.
– Bilinguals are also slightly slower in making some kinds of
decisions about language, though these are unlikely to hamper
communication. For e.g. an English-French bilingual may be
momentarily uncertain whether a passage is written in English or in
French.
– Bilinguals may also take somewhat longer to decide whether a string
of letters (either a nonsense word or an English word) is actually an
English word.

10. – As Insup Tylor – a multilingual who speaks Korean, Japanese and
English – concludes in her psycholinguistics textbook, “Bilinguals may
experience a slight disadvantages in language-processing speed over
monolinguals, but this disadvantages is far outweighed by the advantages
of being able to function in two languages.

11. 2. Code Switching
– Code switching refers to a bilingual’s tendency to switch from one
language to another when speaking to other bilinguals.
– To quote the title of an article on code switching, “sometimes I’ll start a
sentence in English y termino en español”.
– A bilingual is especially likely to switch to another language for a phrase
that is overwhelmed or better expressed in that language.
– People may prefer to switch codes to their second language when they
need to talk about something embarrassing.
– Code switching involves social factors as well as linguistic factors.

12. References
Matlin M.W., Cognitive Psychology

13. THANK YOU… 