Introducing the brain: how bilingualism works (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, February 12, 2022, 20:14 (803 days ago) @ David Turell

Very easily:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-brains-seamlessly-switch-between-languag...

"Billions of people worldwide speak two or more languages. (Though the estimates vary, many sources assert that more than half of the planet is bilingual or multilingual.) One of the most common experiences for these individuals is a phenomenon that experts call “code switching,” or shifting from one language to another within a single conversation or even a sentence.

"This month Sarah Frances Phillips, a linguist and graduate student at New York University, and her adviser Liina Pylkkänen published findings from brain imaging that underscore the ease with which these switches happen and reveal how the neurological patterns that support this behavior are very similar in monolingual people. The new study reveals how code switching—which some multilingual speakers worry is “cheating,” in contrast to sticking to just one language—is normal and natural.

***

"Current ideas about the bilingual brain suggest that both languages are always accessible, even when the bilingual person is speaking with a monolingual person. So in specific social contexts, bilingual people have to further develop their working memory and attention skills to prevent switching to the language that the monolingual speaker would not understand.

***

"We found this both in language switching [between English and Korean] and orthography [with Roman and Korean characters]. We’re manipulating the language, as well as the representation of these words.

"In other words, the brain activity looks a lot like what occurs in people who speak just one language.

"The fact that the left anterior temporal lobe is able to combine these concepts in meaningful ways without slowing down, without being affected by where these concepts are coming from or how they’re being presented to us, tells us that our brains are able to do this kind of process naturally, and so we shouldn’t shy away from it.

"One of the things that I want people to know and understand is that code switching is very natural for bilingual people. Asking us to maintain a single language is harder. I think that while most bilingual individuals have a negative attitude toward code switching—they think it’s bad or that we should stick to one language—it’s not actually bad for our brain. I think that it’s important to recognize that just because something doesn’t look like monolingual behavior doesn’t mean it’s deviant."

Comment: Bilingualism is easily handled. 315,000 years ago language beyond grunts and hand signs barely existed. If our brain handles it well now, it came prepared for it. Obvious design anticipation of use.