Language Selection and Intrusion Errors in Speaking

Bilinguals are generally good at speaking one language without being hampered by the other language, but occasionally a word from the other language intrudes. Language intrusion is considered to be a failure of control over target language production. The mechanisms underlying language control have been studied extensively using picture-word interference and language switching paradigms, but the functional locus of the intrusion errors has remained unclear. Intrusion errors may occur because a speaker selects a word from the nontarget language during lexical selection, or because the nontarget language itself was already selected during concept preparation. We examined the latter possibility by manipulating the language context in two experiments. In the first experiment, bilingual participants were cued to speak a given language in the context of a cartoon interlocutor who was associated with the same language (congruent) or the alternative language (incongruent). In the second experiment, bilingual participants were cued to speak a given language to an interlocutor while hearing the same (congruent) or the alternative language (incongruent) in the background. For further information regarding the current research data, please contact Xiaochen Zheng (x.zheng@donders.ru.nl).