Doctoral Dissertation Research: Bilingual Language Modes and the Effect on Phonetic Production

双语者可以用两种语言中的任何一种说话和听，但他们说话最显著的特征之一是“语码转换”，即在同一话语中两种语言之间的转换。这项研究将考察语码转换的语音学，以解决双语者如何在大脑中保持竞争语言的基本问题。研究的一个重点是语言模式的影响，即双语者从单语到双语的语言连续体。以往对语码转换的语音学研究产生了不同的结果，可能是由于缺乏对语言模式变量的关注。该研究的假设是，在单语模式下产生的代码转换可能与在双语模式下产生的代码转换不同。在语言之间切换需要花费一定的反应时间。心理语言学研究使用线索转换范式来检验这些反应时间成本。研究结果为语言转换的认知机制理论（如抑制控制）提供了实验依据。虽然先前的研究只关注单词层面的语言转换的影响，但语言转换机制的综合理论也必须考虑语音层面的影响。这个研究项目将调查语言转换的语音，测试语音产生可能随反应时间成本的函数而变化的假设。来自当地社区的早期西班牙语-英语双语者将参与一系列实验，包括更自然的口头生产范式和线索转换范式。许多参与者将是第一代大学生，他们代表了一个庞大但研究不足的群体，在这个群体中，双语和语言转换是常态。

Bilinguals are able to speak and listen in either of their languages, but one of the most salient features of their speech is "code switching," the alternation between languages within the same utterance. This research will examine the phonetics of code switching to address the fundamental issue of how bilinguals maintain competing languages in the brain. One focus of the research is the impact of language mode, the speech continuum from monolingual to bilingual along which bilinguals operate. Previous research on the phonetics of code switching has produced divergent results, possibly due to the lack of attention to the language mode variable. The research hypothesis is that code switches produced in a more monolingual mode may differ from those produced in a more bilingual mode.Switching between languages has a reaction time cost. Psycholinguistic studies have used cued switching paradigms to examine these reaction time costs. Results provide experimental evidence for theories of the cognitive mechanisms governing language switching (e.g. Inhibitory Control). Although prior research has focused exclusively on the impact of language switching at the word level, a comprehensive theory of language switching mechanisms must also account for influence at the phonetic level. This research project will investigate the phonetics of language switching, testing the hypothesis that phonetic production may vary as a function of reaction time costs. Early Spanish-English bilinguals from the surrounding local community will participate in a series of experiments, including both a more naturalistic oral production paradigm, as well as a cued switching paradigm. Many participants will be first generation university students who represent a large but vastly under-researched population where bilingualism and language switching are the norm.