Referring expressions and executive functions in bilingualism

Sorace, Antonella · 2016 · Crossref

DOI: 10.1075/lab.15055.sor

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Summary

This theoretical paper addresses the intersection of bilingual language processing and executive functions, specifically focusing on the production and comprehension of anaphoric expressions in null-subject languages like Italian. While research has extensively documented both cognitive advantages (e.g., enhanced inhibitory control) and linguistic disadvantages (e.g., smaller vocabulary) in bilinguals, less attention has been paid to sentence-level phenomena. Sorace proposes a framework connecting psychological research on executive control with linguistic data on subject pronouns, arguing that bilingual differences in pronominal use are not deficits but adaptive reconfigurations of cognitive networks. The analysis draws on established empirical findings regarding adult late bilinguals and L1 attriters. The core phenomenon examined is the "overextension" of overt subject pronouns. In monolingual Italian, null pronouns are preferred for topic antecedents (subjects), while overt pronouns are used for non-topic antecedents (objects/complements). Bilingual speakers, however, frequently produce overt pronouns in contexts where monolinguals would use null forms. This pattern persists regardless of whether Italian is the native or second language and occurs even in bilinguals speaking two null-subject languages (e.g., Italian-Spanish), ruling out simple cross-linguistic interference as the sole cause. The paper synthesizes data from production and comprehension studies, including forward and backward anaphora tasks, to illustrate this variability. Sorace argues that these patterns result from the cognitive demands of real-time processing. Interpreting and producing pronouns requires integrating grammatical and pragmatic information, a process governed by the "Position of Antecedent Strategy" (PAS). The paper suggests that bilinguals face higher cognitive load due to the constant need to inhibit the non-target language. This competition for attentional resources may lead bilinguals to relax the strict pragmatic constraints of the PAS, using overt pronouns as a default, less cognitively taxing form. Alternatively, the paper proposes a trade-off between inhibitory control and integration/updating abilities. Late bilinguals may develop enhanced inhibition but less efficient task-switching or updating compared to early bilinguals, leading to inconsistent reference tracking. The significance of this work lies in reframing bilingual linguistic behavior. Rather than viewing pronoun overgeneralization as a disadvantage, Sorace posits it as evidence of a reconfigured cognitive system adapted to managing two languages. The paper concludes that bilingualism affects multiple components of executive function and their interactions, rather than a single mechanism like inhibition. It calls for interdisciplinary research to understand how individual differences in cognitive control modulate language processing, suggesting that bilinguals should not be expected to mirror monolingual norms in either of their languages.

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• executive function