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Bilingualism: A framework for understanding the mental lexicon
Edited by Maya Libben, Mira Goral and Gary Libben
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 6] 2017
► pp. 143–180

When cognate status produces no benefits

Investigating cognate effects during the processing of code-switched sentences

Experimental studies examining the production and comprehension of language switches have provided evidence for a subtle but significant “switch cost:” switched words take longer to process than non-switched words (e.g., Altarriba et al., 1996; Gollan & Ferreira, 2009; Meuter & Allport, 1999). However, bilingual speakers produce code-switches seamlessly and effortlessly (Myers-Scotton, 2002) and do not experience disruptions during the comprehension of naturally occurring code-switches (Guzzardo Tamargo, 2012). These two observations suggest that bilinguals make use of particular sources of information to seemingly alleviate the challenges associated with switching between two languages. In the work presented here, we ask whether the cognate status of switched words may be one such source of information. To examine this question, the eye movements of Spanish-English early and late bilinguals were recorded while they read sentences on a computer screen. The experimental stimuli consisted of 4 versions of the same sentence, corresponding to 4 experimental conditions. Conditions 1 and 2 were code-switched conditions with a progressive verb. In Condition 1 the switch occurred immediately before the verb (…los instructores are preparing) and in Condition 2 it occurred at the verb (…los instructores están preparing). Conditions 3 and 4 were analogous to Conditions 1 and 2 but involved a verb in the perfect form (…los instructores have prepared and los instructores han prepared). Critically, half of the verbs (48) were cognates (‘prepare’/ ‘preparar’) and half were non-cognates (‘ship’/ ‘enviar’). Bilinguals demonstrated an asymmetry in how they process code-switched sentences with the perfect structure vis-à-vis code-switched sentences with the progressive structure, and how cognate status impacted the integration of a code-switch.

Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Syntactic asymmetries in the production of Spanish-English code-switches
  • 2.The present study
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Materials and design
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Error analysis
    • 3.2Early exposure group
    • 3.3Late exposure group
    • 3.4Eye-tracking results
  • 4.Code-switches involving the progressive structure
    • 4.1Region 1 (The participle)
    • 4.2Region 2 (First word post participle)
    • 4.3Region 3 (Second word post participle)
    • 4.4Code-switches involving the perfect structure
    • 4.5Region 1 (The participle)
    • 4.6Region 2 (First word post participle)
    • 4.7Region 3 (Second word post participle)
  • 5.Discussion
    • 5.1Accounting for the labored processing of cognate verbs
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Author note
  • Notes
  • References
  • Appendix
Published online: 20 December 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.6.07dus
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