Doctoral Dissertation Research: The influence of local social context on speech perception in bilinguals

双语者会根据社会环境动态地调整他们的语言使用。例如，他们对对话伙伴语言知识的认知会影响他们对在互动中需要或适当使用哪种语言的期望。双语语言控制理论考虑了双语者如何参与和转换他们的语言，假设社会信息在这些过程中起作用，但没有确定哪些方面是相关的。此外，在考虑社会背景对双语者语言控制机制的作用的研究中，他们传统上使用的方法不是当地的，因此，没有捕捉到当地社会意义可能影响双语语言加工和控制的方式。然而，为了更好地反映双语者是如何交流的，双语语言控制理论必须考虑到双语者在当地语境中与语言使用相关联的社会意义。通过对墨西哥裔美国人、西班牙裔英语双语者的半结构化访谈、社会评估任务和感知任务，本博士论文项目将调查当地社会意义如何塑造双语者对某人将说什么语言的期望，以及他们对那个人的语言的感知。这项工作有助于理解详细的、以社区为基础的社会信息是如何参与双语语言感知和控制过程的，扩大了我们对双语者在感知和产生语言时社会背景的哪些方面重要的认识。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Bilinguals dynamically adapt their language use in response to social context. Their perception of a conversation partner’s language knowledge, for example, can influence their expectations for what language(s) are needed or appropriate in an interaction. Theories of bilingual language control, which consider how bilinguals engage and switch between their languages, postulate a role for social information in these processes but have not determined what aspects are relevant. Furthermore, where studies have considered the role of social context on bilinguals’ language control mechanisms, they have traditionally utilized measures that are not locally situated and, therefore, do not capture the ways in which localized social meanings may impact bilingual language processing and control. To better reflect how bilinguals communicate, however, theories of bilingual language control must account for the social meanings that bilinguals associate with the use of their languages within a local context. Through semi-structured interviews, social evaluation tasks, and perception tasks with Mexican American, Spanish-English bilinguals, this doctoral dissertation project will investigate how local social meanings shape bilinguals’ expectations of what language(s) someone will speak and, consequently, their perception of that person’s speech. This work contributes to the understanding of how detailed, community-grounded social information is engaged in bilingual language perception and control processes, expanding our knowledge of what aspects of social context matter for bilinguals when perceiving and producing language.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.