Blackwell Reference Online

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Psycholinguists have only recently taken seriously the idea that bilinguals are more representative language users than their monolingual counterparts. The consequence has been a dramatic increase in research on language processing in bilinguals and second language learners. In part, this recent research focuses on how individuals who understand and speak more than a single language negotiate the boundaries of two language systems that may or may not share common features. However, another equally important focus is to use bilingualism as a tool to address questions about the nature of mental representations and processes and the learning mechanisms that support them. In this chapter we review evidence on the perception and comprehension of words and sentences in bilinguals. At each level of analysis we attempt to address issues that arise from each of these foci. We will consider research on the perception and comprehension of words and sentences when bilinguals are reading or listening in one language only and also when they find themselves in a mixed-language context in which the two languages may be used interchangeably. For the purpose of our review, we assume a broad definition of bilingualism. We take anyone who actively uses two languages at some level of proficiency to be bilingual. Because few bilinguals are genuinely balanced in their use of two languages, we assume that ... log in or subscribe to read full text