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。 具体来说，我的研究将涉及双语的三个主题。其中一个系列的研究将调查文字阅读。本研究的目的是了解双语者的第一语言如何影响他们的第二语言阅读，反之亦然。第二个系列的研究将考察双语者如何理解相互翻译但意义不完全相同的成对单词的意义。这些语言之间的细微差异对第二语言的学习者和翻译计算机程序构成了挑战。第三个系列的研究将调查学习一门新语言的成功与否是否取决于个人的统计学学习能力。第二语言学习效果存在很大的个体差异，但这些差异的来源一直难以捉摸。最近的一个提议是，一个人对环境中统计结构的总体能力与第二语言学习有关，但尚未得到很好的测试。*** 这项研究将不仅涉及英法双语者，而且涉及懂英语和其他几种语言之一的个人。我们的目标是扩大我们对双语的理解，现在主要是基于个人谁知道英语和少数西欧语言之一，个人的语言在他们使用的书写系统不同，并与不同的文化背景相关联的语言。这将有助于确保我们的双语语言处理理论抓住所有双语者的重要特征。这项工作将使用最先进的方法在语言处理的研究，包括眼动跟踪和事件相关电位。该研究计划将提供与学习和使用两种语言相关的挑战，以及与成功相关的因素的更好的理解。

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.*** Specifically, my research will address three topics in bilingualism. One series of studies will investigate word reading. The aim of the research is to understand how a bilingual's first language influences their reading in a second language and vice versa. A second series of studies will examine how a bilingual understands the meanings of pairs of words that are translations of each other but not entirely equivalent in meaning. These subtle differences across languages pose a challenge to learners of a second language and to translation computer programs. The third series of studies will investigate whether success at learning a new language is predicted by an individual's statistical learning ability. There are large individual differences in second language learning outcomes, but the source of these differences has been elusive. A recent proposal is that that a person's general capacity to pick up on statistical structure in the environment is related to second language learning, but it has not yet been well tested. *** The research will involve not only English-French bilinguals, but also individuals who know English and one of several other languages. The goal is to extend our understanding of bilingualism, which now is based primarily on individuals who know English and one of a small number of Western European languages, to individuals whose languages differ in the writing system that they use, and to languages that are associated with different cultural contexts. This will help ensure that our theories of bilingual language processing capture the important characteristics of all bilinguals. The work will use state of the art methods in the study of language processing, including eye tracking and event-related potentials. The research program will provide a better understanding of the challenges associated with learning and using two languages, and the factors related to success.