From oscillations to language: behavioural and electroencephalographic studies on cross-language interactions

Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn, S. (2023)

Doctoral Thesis

Speaking more than one language has a profound impact on both the mind and the brain. But how does the multilingual brain manage a native language as well as a non-native language, specifically when the non-native language was acquired later in development? In this thesis, we aimed to characterise the multilingual experience of late language learners in three ways. First, we examined how the cross-linguistic influence (CLI) between the native language and the non-native language influenced non-native comprehension and production. Second, we compared different multilingual populations to quantify the impact of language similarity on CLI and non-native comprehension and production. Third, we examined whether language similarity played a modulating role beyond language processing in terms of domain-general inhibitory control. These are critical issues because they speak directly to the notion of how the native language and the non-native language co-exist in the brain. Further, they help us characterise the functional organisation of these languages in the multilingual brain. Across several studies, we systematically explored these three issues by using several experimental paradigms and a combination of behavioural and electroencephalographic measures. Subsequently, we pushed the theoretical boundaries of the issues in question and contributed novel evidence to this area of research.

• Multilingualism
• Language processing
• Non-native comprehension
• Non-native production
• Late language learners
• Electroencephalography
• P600 component
• P300 component
• Generalised additive mixed models
• Open Science

• All authors: Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn, S.
• Supervisor: Schiller, N.O.
• Co-supervisor: Pablos-Robles, L.
• Committee: Foucart, A.; Levelt, C.C. Marinis, T.; Witteman, J.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Leiden University Centre for Linguistics (LUCL), Faculty of Humanities, Leiden University
• Date: 2023-01-17
• Title of host publication: LOT dissertation series
• Publisher: Amsterdam: LOT
• ISBN (print): 9789460934193
• DOI: doi:10.48273/LOT0633
• Name: 633
• Sponsorship: This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 765556 - The Multilingual Mind.