Language and Conceptual Processing in Bilinguals

我的研究计划调查双语语言处理的认知方面。我们的目标是了解双语者如何代表，处理和学习他们的两种语言。双语是一个与加拿大社会高度相关的话题。我们是一个正式的英法双语国家，但我们也有许多公民（2011年人口普查中占20%）的母语既不是英语也不是法语，特别是在我们最大的城市。我们大多数新居民面临的最大挑战之一是学习英语或法语，以便他们能够在新社区发挥作用。由于双语在加拿大的普遍性和重要性，我们必须了解双语者在用每种语言说话和阅读时的想法，并了解与成功地用一种以上语言进行沟通的能力相关的因素。

My program of research investigates cognitive aspects of bilingual language processing. The goal is to understand how bilinguals represent, process, and learn their two languages. Bilingualism is a highly relevant topic to Canadian society. We are an officially English-French bilingual country, but we also have many citizens (20% in the 2011 census) whose mother tongue is neither English nor French, especially in our largest cities. One of the biggest challenges facing most of our newest residents is to learn English or French so that they can function in their new communities. Because of the prevalence and importance of bilingualism in Canada, it is essential that we understand what is happening in the mind of the bilingual as they speak and read in each of their languages, and understand the factors related to the ability to successfully communicate in more than one language.