Visual word recognition is constrained by writing systems. The orthographic depth hypothesis (ODH) was proposed to account for phonological activation in various degrees depending on how transparent the grapheme–phoneme conversion rule is in a writing system. This current study extends the investigation of ODH in bilingualism to understand the cross-language cognitive processes in bi-script readers. In two cross-language masked priming experiments, we show asymmetrical cognate facilitation effects, which are typically reported as a result of shared phonology and/or orthography between languages, in addition to meaning equivalence. That is, with the same set of items, when the primes were Chinese and the targets English (Experiment 1), there was no cognate facilitation effect; however, when we switched the languages in prime–target pairs (Experiment 2), the cognate facilitation effects emerged. These results indicate that shared phonology across languages is not sufficient to induce cognate facilitation effects and that language-dependent processing mechanisms play a crucial role.

Word frequency has long been considered an essential aspect of psycholinguistic theory. However, research has shown that measures of contextual and semantic diversity provide a better fit to lexical decision and naming data than word frequency. The current study examines the role of contextual and semantic diversity in picture naming ability across aging and bilingualism. A picture naming experiment was conducted with six groups of participants: younger monolinguals, older monolinguals, younger L1 English bilinguals, older L1 English bilinguals, younger L2 English bilinguals and older L2 English bilinguals. Consistent with previous findings, the contextual diversity measure accounted for more variance in the picture naming data than word frequency. Furthermore, older adults and L1 English bilinguals were more sensitive to semantic diversity information, while younger adults and L2 English bilinguals relied more on age of acquisition in their lexical organization.

Multilinguals face greater challenges than monolinguals in speech perception tasks, such as processing noisy sentences. Factors related to multilinguals’ language experience, such as age of acquisition, proficiency, exposure and usage, influence their perceptual performance. However, how language experience variability modulates multilinguals’ listening effort remains unclear. We analyzed data from 92 multilinguals who completed a listening task with words and sentences, presented in quiet and noise across participants’ spoken languages (Arabic, Hebrew and English). Listening effort was assessed using pupillometry. The results indicated higher accuracy and reduced effort in quiet than in noise, with greater language experience predicting better accuracy and reduced effort. These effects varied by stimulus and listening condition. For single words, greater language experience most strongly reduced effort in noise; for sentences, it had a more pronounced effect in quiet, especially for high-predictability sentences. These findings emphasize the importance of considering language experience variability when evaluating multilingual effort.

This study examined the variability of language profiles in Spanish–English bilingual children with and without developmental language disorder (DLD). The data included 529 children between the ages of 5 and 10 years. Eighty-eight of these children were identified as having DLD. A latent profile analysis was conducted based on children’s morphosyntax and semantics performance in Spanish and English. The optimal model identified five different profiles, illustrating the heterogeneity in bilingual development. Children with DLD were observed across all profiles, but most were classified in the only two profiles where lower morphosyntax than semantic performance was observed across languages. These results show the variability in both bilingual children with and without DLD. Additionally, the hallmark deficit of DLD in morphosyntax was confirmed, with the morphological weakness being observed in each of the bilingual children’s languages. Children’s background factors (age, maternal education and language exposure) were associated with profile characteristics.

Language mixing is a common phenomenon in the language input of bilingual children. However, the relation between the frequency of parental language mixing and children’s language development remains unclear. The present study investigates the relation between language mixing as observed in daylong audio recordings (LENA) and as reported by parents in the questionnaire for Quantifying Bilingual Experience (Q-BEx) and children’s language outcomes in the majority and minority language. Participants were 52 3-to-5-year-old Polish-Dutch and Turkish-Dutch children in the Netherlands and Bayesian informative hypothesis evaluations were applied. In 14 out of 15 regression analyses, the LENA and Q-BEx measures yielded similar associations with children’s language outcomes. Parental language mixing was not related to majority language outcomes, but a negative relation was found with expressive vocabulary in the minority language. Longitudinal studies are needed to pinpoint the directionality of this negative relation.

This study investigated the influence of language context on creative thinking, mental imagery vividness and the use of representational hand gestures among Turkish-English bilinguals. Participants solved verbal divergent and convergent thinking tasks in both their native (L1) and second languages (L2) and self-reported their mental imagery vividness during each task. Results revealed that participants were more creative and experienced more vivid mental imagery in L1 compared to L2. Surprisingly, L2 proficiency was not associated with L2 imagery. Gestures in L1 had a positive association, while gestures in L2 had a negative association with divergent thinking. Higher gesture rates were related to lower convergent thinking performance in both languages, especially when imagery vividness was high. These findings suggest that creativity and mental imagery vividness might depend on the language context. The role of gestures for verbal creativity might also differ according to the language used.

Comparing the performance of bilinguals to monolinguals can introduce bias in language assessment. One potential impact is misidentification of developmental language disorder (DLD). Nonlinguistic cognitive processing tasks may reduce assessment bias because they measure underlying DLD weaknesses without relying on linguistic stimuli. This study examined the extent to which nonlinguistic cognitive processing tasks showed bias, compared to a traditional language assessment, sentence repetition. Participants were 161 five-to-seven-year olds from diverse language backgrounds who completed nonlinguistic auditory and visual assessments of processing speed, sustained selective attention and working memory. We examined psychometric properties and performance on each task among bilingual and monolingual children. We also conducted bilingual-to-bilingual comparisons to examine performance differences by first-language typology and exposure amount. Results suggest minimal assessment bias in the nonlinguistic cognitive processing tasks, particularly in comparison to sentence repetition. Nonlinguistic cognitive processing tasks may ultimately contribute to less-biased identification of DLD in diverse populations.

Automatization is the learning process by which controlled, effortful second language (L2) processing becomes automatic, fast, and effortless through practice – a critical transition for L2 development. Achieving automaticity allows learners to progress from laborious language use to fluent, real-time communication by freeing limited cognitive resources. This research timeline synthesizes four decades of laboratory and classroom research on automatization, bridging cognitive learning theories with pedagogical practice. We trace five key research strands: (1) cognitive mechanisms, including the explicit-implicit knowledge interface; (2) skill development trajectories across phonological, lexical, morphosyntax, and pragmatics domains; (3) instructional approaches promoting automatization of knowledge and skills through deliberate and systematic practice; (4) methodological advances in measuring automaticity (e.g., reaction time, coefficient of variation, neural measures); and (5) individual differences in long-term memory systems (declarative and procedural memory). This timeline offers a comprehensive perspective on how automatization research has significantly advanced our understanding of L2 learning.

This study investigated phonetic backward transfer in the ethnolinguistic minority of first-generation bilingual immigrant Indians in Glasgow ‘Glasgow-Indians’ in relation to Flege’s Speech Learning Model, which predicts ‘assimilation’ and ‘dissimilation’ of sound categories. The study explored whether and how sounds of Glasgow-Indian native language (Hindi) and dialect (Indian English) are influenced by sounds of the dominant host language/dialect (Glaswegian English). The role of their Glaswegian and Indian Identity was also examined. Two control groups (Indians and Glaswegians) and the experimental group (Glasgow-Indians) were recorded reading in English and Hindi words containing two phones (/t/ and /d/− voice onset time (VOT)). In both languages, Glasgow-Indian VOT became more Glaswegian-like (assimilation) and to a greater degree in English than Hindi in /t/. Increasing Glaswegian Identity increased assimilation in /t/ but had no effect on /d/, whereas increasing Indian Identity decreased assimilation in /d/ but had no effect on /t/.

What makes lexical tones challenging for second language (L2) learners? Several recent studies suggest that two phonological universals, the Obligatory Contour Principle and the Tonal Markedness Scale, may constrain the L2 acquisition of Mandarin lexical tones, regardless of learners’ first language. We assessed the role of these universals in L2 tonal acquisition by learners from a non-tonal background (L1 Portuguese). We implemented a perceptual testing protocol, which contained a number of methodological and analytical improvements relative to previous studies, including the use of Bayesian mixed-effects models to assess evidence for null hypotheses. The results provided evidence for the null effects of both phonological universals. Instead, a clear determinant of tonal identification accuracy was the participants’ pitch acuity, suggesting that domain-general auditory processing underlies the learning of L2 phonological categories. All materials, data and code are publicly available in the OSF repository at https://osf.io/ezadw.