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Article published In:
Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 1:4 (2011) ► pp.391–412

Inhibitory control processes and lexical access in trilingual speech production

| Wilfrid Laurier University
| Florida State University

This study tests whether or not trilingual language learners rely on inhibitory control (IC) when accessing words during speech production. In particular, it investigates the extent to which second language (L2) and third language (L3) lexical robustness modulates such reliance. English language learners of French and Spanish participated in a picture-naming task containing language switches in all three of their languages. Analyses were conducted on the switching performance of the three languages followed by an exploration of how these effects were modulated by L2 and L3 lexical robustness. The results support reliance on IC for all three languages. Furthermore, the strength of L2 lexical robustness affected performance in all languages whereas the strength of L3 lexical robustness only affected L3 performance. The results suggest that in the context of having to switch between three languages within a single experiment, trilingual speakers rely on IC.

Keywords: lexical access, lexical robustness, bilingual and trilingual speech production, inhibitory control
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Recent developments in lexical access and IC
    • 1.2Testing for inhibitory control
    • 1.3Inhibitory control or a language-selective mechanism?
    • 1.4Speech production in more than two languages
  • 2.The present study
    • 2.1Research questions and hypotheses
    • 2.2Participants
    • 2.3Picture-naming task
    • 2.4Verbal fluency and lexical robustness
    • 2.5Stimuli
    • 2.6Design
    • 2.7Procedure
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1L1-L2-L3 switching and L2 lexical robustness
    • 3.2L1-L2-L3 switching and L3 lexical robustness.
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • References
Published online: 25 October 2011
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.1.4.02sch
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