Bianca Sumutka
Queens University of Charlotte, USAPresentation Title:
The impact of a monolingual on German language code-switching
Abstract
German-speaking bilinguals were interviewed in an experimental setting. Participants first were interviewed in German and then completed an online questionnaire to gauge their language experience. Half of the interview sessions were interrupted by a confederate who asked the experimenter a question in English. The amount of code-switching in the interrupted group was compared to a control group who were not interrupted.
The non-selective view of language access proposes that for bilinguals, both languages are active to a certain extent, and the degree to which these languages are active depend on a variety of factors (e.g. proficiency) (Gollan & Ferreira, 2009; Kroll et al., 2006, Macizo et al., 2012). This dual activity is evident when bilinguals code-switch. Code-switching occurs when bilinguals shift from one language to another while speaking. This switch can occur for a single word, phrase, sentence, or more; and may occur for a variety of reasons (Baker, 2001; Heredia & Altarriba, 2001). While many studies have examined language switching with controlled laboratory stimuli, fewer studies have explored this phenomenon in a more naturalistic conversational setting.
The current study builds on previous research that examines whether the presence of a monolingual English speaker can induce code-switching. German-speaking bilinguals were recruited to participate and complete an interview in German lasting approximately 30 minutes. Using random assignment, the interviews of half of the participants were interrupted by a monolingual English-speaking research assistant who only spoke to the interviewer. After the interruption, the research assistant stayed in the room for the remainder of the interview. The participants in the control group completed the interview without interruption. Following the interview, all participants completed a language questionnaire. Code-switching behavior was compared between the participants who were interrupted to those who were interviewed without interruption. Additional factors such as linguistic background and language proficiency were examined.
Biography
Bianca Sumutka is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Queens University of Charlotte. She earned her PhD in Psychology from Pennsylvania State University in 2003 and was a Post Doc with Haskins Laboratories for two years.