Bilingualism beyond lexical processing

Abstract

Abstract This chapter reviews research on three topics on the cognition of bilingualism beyond lexical representation and processing. They are autobiographical memory in bilinguals, the representation and interaction of syntactic knowledge in bilinguals, and the consequences of bilingualism. Research on the first topic has demonstrated language-dependent encoding and organization of personal events and memories, and that the language one uses to retrieve the memory may affect what and how much detail is retrieved. Research on the second topic often employs the syntactic priming paradigm and has demonstrated an interaction of syntactic knowledge between languages. Finally, much of the research on the impact of bilingualism has focused on two areas: linguistic deficit and cognitive advantage. Findings regarding the former should be interpreted with caution as they often involved the comparison of L1 and L2 processing. Findings regarding the latter have been far from being consistent.