فاطمه نعمتی

The way that bilinguals and multilinguals control and manage their linguistic processing is one of the most prominent issues in bilingualism and multilingualism. The aim of the present study was to investigate the differential impact of language type as well as switch direction on language switching performance in Qashqai Turkish-Persian bilinguals who have learnt English as a foreign language(N=25). The participants were initially tested by the LEAP-Q and a standard placement test to measure their proficiency level. In order to measure the linguistic processing in an experimental paradigm, the participants switched between languages (Qashqai Turkish, Persian and English) in a self-paced reading task. The current results showed a greater switch cost from Turkish than from Persian to English. Regarding the effect of switch direction on language switch cost, the results of the study indicated the asymmetry of switching in both of the first and second language switches to and from English. There was a larger switch cost from Turkish to English than in the opposite direction (English-Turkish). Also the switch cost from Persian to English was larger in comparison to the opposite direction (English-Persian). The results suggested that the degree of the dominance in the participants’ language reservoir, directly related to the language experience and ecology of these bilingual speakers might be the main reason for their different patterns of switch cost across different language types. According to the current theories of activation mechanisms of language control, the results were interpreted by explaining variations in sentence comprehension in terms of language dominance as a determinant factor.