This dissertation investigates the locus of language selection during bilingual speech production. In particular, it explores whether distinct language backgrounds, proficiency, and age of acquisition determine language selectivity and how competition is resolved between languages in the bilingual mind. For example, when an English-Spanish bilingual is asked to name a picture of a dog in English, at what point does the mind select English and not Spanish as the target language? Two distinct theories explaining this are presented: Green's Inhibitory Control (IC) Model (1986; 1998) and The Concept Selection Hypothesis (La Heij, 2005). Costa and Santesteban (2004) have recently supported that both may be accurate but may be sensitive to proficiency level. In particular, they suggest that the IC Model and the Concept Selection Hypothesis can only represent lexical processing of bilinguals with low and high proficiency levels, respectively. This study investigates Costa's and Santesteban's claim and explores factors that affect the loci of language selection and competition. In the present study, low proficient language learners, heritage speakers, and highly proficient language learners participated in two processing tasks. The first experiment was a word translation task in which participants translated words in the second language (L2) to their more dominant language (L1). Accompanying each target was a distracter item in the form of a picture or word that was semantically related or unrelated to the target. Experiment 2 was a picture naming task in which participants were asked to switch back and forth between their two languages. The results suggest that bilingual type and age of acquisition do not affect the loci of language selection and competition during lexical processing. However, striking patterns emerged in the data supported a notion in which L2 proficiency is a determining factor in the locus of language selection. Finally, the researcher presents the Selection by Proficiency Model which links the Inhibitory Control Model and the Concept Selection Hypothesis. This model illustrates the critical role and effects of proficiency in language selectivity. / A Dissertation Submitted to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2007. / February 28, 2007. / Lexical Processing, Bilingualism, Language Selectivity, Bilingual Speech Production / Includes bibliographical references. / Gretchen Sunderman, Professor Directing Dissertation; Michelle Stebleton, Outside Committee Member; Roberto Fernández, Committee Member; Michael Leeser, Committee Member; Lara Reglero, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_176451 |
| Contributors | Schwieter, John W., 1979- (authoraut), Sunderman, Gretchen (professor directing dissertation), Stebleton, Michelle (outside committee member), Fernández, Roberto (committee member), Leeser, Michael (committee member), Reglero, Lara (committee member), Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
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