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Effects of Bilingualism on Cognitive and Linguistic Performance across the Lifespan

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Streitfall Zweisprachigkeit – The Bilingualism Controversy

Abstract

The present chapter reports the results of experiments examining the consequences of lifelong bilingualism on cognitive and linguistic performance. Typically, research has shown that bilingualism leads to disadvantages in linguistic ability but advantages in executive control, a crucial cognitive ability. These apparently contradictory results are summarized and examined in terms of a model in which both positive and negative outcomes can be understood in the same causal terms. Two important factors in this regard are that first, both languages for a bilingual are constantly active, and second, bilinguals generally control a smaller vocabulary in each language than a comparable monolingual. Thus, the consequences of bilingualism are explained in terms of interactions between language and cognitive systems. Implications for different types of bilingualism, incorporating different pairs of languages, under different conditions of use, are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3

    Ellen Bialystok

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  1. Ellen Bialystok
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  1. Universität Hamburg Institut für International und Interkulturell Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft, Von-Melle-Park 8, 20146, Hamburg

    Ingrid Gogolin  & Ursula Neumann  & 

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Bialystok, E. (2009). Effects of Bilingualism on Cognitive and Linguistic Performance across the Lifespan. In: Gogolin, I., Neumann, U. (eds) Streitfall Zweisprachigkeit – The Bilingualism Controversy. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-91596-8_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-531-91596-8_4

  • Publisher Name: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften

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