The Effect Of Language Mixing on Word Retrieval in Bilingual Adults with Aphasia

Abstract

Lexical retrieval deficits are a common feature in aphasia, and while much research has been done on bilingual aphasia and on the processes involved in language mixing by healthy bilingual adults, it is not clear whether it may be beneficial for bilingual people with aphasia to change languages in moments of lexical retrieval or if it is more effective to continue the lexical search in one language. The primary aim of this project was to determine whether bilingual people with aphasia demonstrate global and local effects of language mixing. Grammatical categories (i.e., nouns and verbs) were examined separately, and participant- and stimulus-related factors were considered. Based on preliminary analyses of participants’ accuracy and response onset latencies, it appears that participants tended to benefit from mixing in terms of speed and accuracy and that their results may be related to their language proficiency and dominance.