2019 Language Selection During
Speech Production in
Bilingual Speakers
Noriko Hoshino and Guillaume Thierry
Introduction
The Neuroscience group of the ESRC centre for research on bilingualism
in theory and practice uses mainly event-related potentials (ERPs) (but also
behavioural measures, eye-tracking, and functional magnetic resonance
imaging) to study various aspects of bilingual functioning. We have con-
ducted research on developmental aspects of bilingualism (e.g. Kuipers &
Thierry, 2012; Vihman et al., 2007), language co-activation in comprehen-
sion of single words (e.g. Hoshino & Thierry, 2012; Thierry & Wu, 2007; Wu
& Thierry, 2010), language co-activation in production (e.g. Hoshino &
Thierry, 2011; Spalek et al., under revision), the time-course of language
production during picture naming (e.g. Strijkers et al., 2010; Costa et al.,
2009), co-activation of the two grammars of bilinguals (Sanoudaki &
Thierry, this volume), linguistic relativity (Thierry et al., 2009;
Athanasopoulous et al., 2009, 2010), and, more recently, emotional regula-
tion of language-access in bilinguals (Wu & Thierry, 2012).
In this chapter, we deal with the issue of speech production in bilinguals
with a particular focus on the contribution of ERPs. When a bilingual pro-
duces a word in each of his or her languages, is the process of lexical access
in speech production similar to speech planning for a monolingual? As we
rarely see bilinguals speaking in the unintended language, it might appear
that they can use each language without being influenced by the other.
However, past research suggests that both languages are active nevertheless
(e.g. Colomé, 2001; Colomé & Miozzo, 2010; Costa et al., 2000; Costa et al.,
1999; Hermans et al., 1998; Hoshino & Kroll, 2008). Clearly, the cognitive
mechanisms underlying language production allow bilinguals to select the
target language at some point in processing so that they can speak the