Doctoral Dissertation Research: Code-switching in Three Groups of Bilinguals

语言为人们提供了一种独特的方式来概念化世界，并与社会中的其他成员互动。当一个人说不止一种语言时，这个过程是如何受到影响的？虽然世界上说双语的人比只说一种语言的人多，但双语现象直到最近才受到研究人员的关注，尤其是在美国。语言处理的研究表明，双语者两种语言之间的互动产生了单语者中不明显的动态，比如在句子中间跨两种语言的代码转换。此外，双语者使用两种语言的丰富的社会文化背景使他们与单语者区别开来。为了更好地理解双语语言处理如何受到语言使用环境的影响，本论文项目将研究熟练使用两种语言但生活在两种语言使用不同地区的双语者的代码转换行为。通过展示双语者的不同能力，本研究将调查双语者的认知益处，并为美国和世界上最大的少数民族语言社区之一的文献做出贡献，而这些社区很少受到关注。该项目还将通过聘请一组来自相关双语社区的本科生研究助理来支持教育多样性，他们通常是第一代大学生。越来越多的研究表明，说同样两种语言的双语者之间存在差异。计划中的研究采用心理语言学和社会语言学的方法，研究了三组精通双语者的语码转换实践，他们使用的是不同的两种语言：一组是在一种语言占主导地位的环境中长大的母语双语者，同时接受的是另一种语言的教育；在说一种语言的家庭中，在另一种语言占主导地位的环境中长大的传统双语者；浸入式双语者在一种语言占主导地位的环境中长大，但后来为了接受高等教育而转移到另一种语言占主导地位的环境中。通过研究语码转换词的感知和产生，本研究将解决三个问题：(1)语言习得和社会文化背景的差异如何影响语码转换语境下说话者的词语感知和产生？(2)语码转换实践揭示了语言结构的哪些影响？(3)三种类型双语者语码转换模式的差异揭示了社会文化背景、文化认同、认知和语言加工之间的相互作用。使用语码转换作为一种工具来研究双语者的语音处理，有望揭示语言、认知和社会互动的基本原则，这可能需要对语言使用中的文化和语境的传统理解进行修订。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。

Language provides people with a unique means to conceptualize the world and interact with their fellow members in a society. How is this process affected when individuals speak more than one language? Although more people in the world are bilingual than are monolingual, bilingualism has only recently received attention from researchers, particularly in the U.S. Studies of language processing have shown that the interactions across the bilingual's two languages produce dynamics that are not evident in monolingual speakers, such as code-switching across the two languages in the middle of a sentence. In addition, the rich sociocultural contexts in which bilinguals use the two languages distinguish them from monolingual speakers. To better understand how bilingual language processing is influenced by the context in which languages are used, this dissertation project will examine the code-switching behavior in bilinguals who use both languages with a high level of proficiency but who live in locations in which the two languages are used differently. By demonstrating the diverse competencies of bilingual speakers, this study will investigate the cognitive benefits of bilingualism and contribute to the documentation of one of the largest minority language communities in the U.S. and around the world that has received little attention. The project will also support educational diversity by engaging a group of undergraduate research assistants who are drawn from the relevant bilingual community and who are often first-generation college students. An increasing number of studies show that there is variation among bilinguals who speak the same two languages. Adopting both psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic approaches, the planned research examines bilingual speakers' practice of code-switching in three groups of highly proficient bilinguals, with different contexts for the two languages they speak : homeland bilinguals raised in a context in which one language is dominant while being educated in the other language; heritage bilinguals raised in a household that speaks one language within an environment where the other language is dominant; and immersed bilinguals raised in an environment in which one language is dominant but later moved for higher education to an environment in which the other language is dominant. By examining code-switched word perception and production, this study will address three questions: (1) How do variations across language acquisition and sociocultural context affect speakers' perception and production of words in the code-switching context? (2) What do code-switching practices reveal about the impact of linguistic structure? (3) What do differences in code-switching patterns across the three types of bilingual speakers reveal about the interaction between sociocultural context, cultural identity, cognition, and language processing broadly? Using code-switching as a tool to examine bilinguals' speech processing holds the promise of revealing fundamental principles of language, cognition, and social interaction that may require a revision of the traditional understanding of culture and context in language use.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.