Color perception is influenced by lexical categories. Previous research shows that languages partition the color spectrum in unique ways, leading to faster discrimination between colors belonging to different categories (Kay & Kempton, 1984; Winawer et al., 2007). The influence of color names on perception in bilinguals is not conclusive. In Italian, dark and light blues are distinguished as separate categories (blu and azzurro), while French speakers use bleu for both. We tested French–Italian bilinguals in a speeded color discrimination task, where language was indirectly involved, and compared the results with monolingual controls. Bilinguals tended to align with Italian monolinguals, as Italian categories dominated their perception of blue hues, but also showed some French-like behavior, reflecting the stability of the dark blue category. Bilinguals, therefore, process color through a mix of both languages, suggesting that language plays a key role in bilingual cognition, whose perception is shaped by more complex processes.

This study examines the underlying mechanisms driving the bilingual advantage in learning English as a foreign language (EFL) among kindergarten-aged children. Participants included 85 Dutch-speaking monolinguals and 34 bilingual children. We assessed children’s English vocabulary and grammar as the outcome variables. Furthermore, phonological awareness, executive functions and motivation to learn English were measured as potential mediators of the bilingualism–EFL relationship. We also controlled for child age, non-verbal IQ, Dutch (majority language) proficiency, intensity of school English instruction, parental education and exposure to English activities. Results showed that bilingual children outperformed monolinguals in English receptive vocabulary, but only for noncognate words; no differences emerged for cognate words or English grammar. However, none of the proposed mediators explained this advantage. Findings are discussed in terms of why the effect was limited to vocabulary and potential alternative mechanisms not explored in the present study.

The study investigated the strength of L2 form-meaning connections among advanced L2 speakers. Two unmasked intralingual L2 semantic priming experiments were conducted, with lexical decision and semantic categorization tasks. Thirty-eight native English speakers and 40 advanced Chinese learners of English were tested in each task. The stimuli involved L2 word targets that were preceded by either a related L2 prime or an unrelated one. Previous research has used the lexical decision task in this investigation, and the semantic task was also used in the present study to boost the involvement of conceptual connections in L2 processing. Consistent with previous findings, native English speakers showed a reliable priming effect in both tasks, but English L2 speakers showed no priming effect in either task. No task effect was found in either group. The findings provided further evidence for a weaker L2 form-meaning connection among advanced L2 speakers.

Services related to paid domestic work in private households are an important global labor market for migrant women. The Philippines is one of the largest exporters of work-force for the international domestic work sector. In this context, the linguistic legacy of American colonization becomes a key factor: English is an official language of the Philippines alongside Filipino. In addition, several varieties of Philippine English are widespread. Against this backdrop, Filipino and Filipina workers are positioned as competent, Anglophone workers in low-wage sectors such as the global domestic work market. Based on these attributions, they are also commodified as workers who can easily learn other languages and who are versatile and compatible with all linguistic and cultural spaces – worldwide. This paper sheds light on the multilingual repertoires of Filipina domestic workers in the Spanish capital, Madrid. The study is grounded in the paradigms of critical ethnographic sociolinguistics, migration linguistics and multilingualism research. The underlying data are based on narratives of Filipinas who migrated to Spain between 1971 and 2017. The findings reveal complex tensions around English. On the one hand, English is often perceived as prestigious and therefore valuable linguistic capital that can lead to social mobility. On the other hand, English is not seen as a panacea for securing employment beyond domestic work. Extrapolating from these findings, the overall picture that emerges is that English is deeply embedded in structurally determined social inequalities, which can be observed both in the country of origin and in the destination society.

Employing the ‘observation and collection’ method, this paper tracks some of the changes to the recent British English lexicon that have occurred through the use of syntactic category change. These involve primarily nominalization and verbification. Many of the examples discussed in the main body of the text and extended in the annex are of a contemporary nature.

South Korea’s enduring obsession with English education has recently taken a new form in chil-se-ko-si, a Korean term referring to competitive English entrance exams for six- and seven-year-olds. This phenomenon reflects a broader shift toward performance-driven, high-stakes instruction in early childhood, shaped by policy gaps, market expansion, and parental anxiety. This article examines how chil-se-ko-si has become a mechanism of social sorting. It further explores whether such trends remain justifiable in an era increasingly mediated by generative AI. Drawing on a critical policy review that integrates media discourse, government data, and a national survey (Shin et al. 2023), the analysis is grounded in critical discourse analysis and Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic capital. Findings show that early English education is less about language acquisition and more about signaling class status, imposing emotional and financial burdens on families while reinforcing social hierarchies. Medical and educational experts express concern about the developmental and psychological costs of such early academic pressure. As AI tools begin to reshape how English is accessed and used, the persistence of chil-se-ko-si raises urgent questions about what it means to prepare children for the future. The article calls for early English education to be reoriented toward developmental appropriateness, equity, and contextual relevance in a rapidly evolving, technology-mediated world.

Recent years have seen an increase in forced migration from the Global South, e.g., Congolese refugees with long transits in Uganda, to countries in the Global North, like Norway. Many of these newly-arrived Congolese refugees in Norway have English in their linguistic repertoires after decades-long transits in Uganda. English can thus be used as a lingua franca in Norway while they are learning Norwegian, as many Norwegians also have English in their repertoires. However, the ways these refugees have learnt English differ starkly from the ways most Norwegians have learnt English. While most Norwegians have mainly learnt English formally, i.e. in school, these Congolese refugees have mainly learnt English informally, i.e. outside language classrooms. The present article explores specific examples of how these refugees have learnt English. Some have, for example, learnt English through lingua franca interaction with other refugees with whom they do not share any other languages than English; others have initiated English language awareness in the wild themselves through, for example, talking explicitly about the English language with motorcycle riders in Uganda; and others have listened to English-speaking radio programmes in order to learn English faster. I argue that many of these ways of learning English informally can be referred to as “grassroots learning” of English, since English learning is initiated by the refugees themselves. These findings from empirical research among newly-arrived Congolese refugees in Norway may contribute to developing our understandings of informal English language learning, as well as making sure forced migrants’ voices are heard.