A Study On The Relationship Between Phonological Overlap And Language Switch Cost

The present thesis investigates the influence of phonological overlap on Chinese-English language switch cost,and discusses the cognitive mechanism of Chinese-English bilingual language switch on the phonological level.In the current study,20 proficient Chinese-English bilinguals are tested through picture-naming task which is programmed by E-prime 2.0,the influence of Chinese-English phonological overlap on language switch cost is investigated during this switching process,then the data is analyzed by SPSS 23.0.On the basis of previous language switch theories and researches,the present research investigates the following questions:(1)Does inhibitory control exist in Chinese-English bilingual language switch?(2)What effect does phonological overlap have on Chinese-English bilingual language switch?(3)What effect does phonological overlap have on the asymmetry of language switch cost? From the empirical study we come to the following conclusions:(1)inhibitory control exists in the process of Chinese-English bilingual language switch as the language switch costs are asymmetric on the whole,L1 switch cost is larger than L2;(2)phonological overlap interferes with language switch,increasing language switch cost;(3)the asymmetry of switch costs is affected by phonological condition,in PO(phonological overlap)condition the switch costs are asymmetric,whereas in NPO(no-phonological overlap)condition,the switch costs are symmetric.Then the author combines IC model,MOGUL framework and second language transfer theory to discuss these findings.The conclusions of the research verify the necessity of inhibitory control in language switch,and reveal the influence of phonological overlap on language switch,which provides evidence for future research on the phonological level about Chinese-English language switch,expands our knowledge about the influential factors of language switch and deepens our understanding towards language switch mechanism.Besides,the current results verify the explanatory power of IC model and apply MOGUL framework into the analysis of the current findings,which provides new insight to the establishment of more applicable language switch theory.Pedagogically,the findings of the current research can be applied to the Chinese-English phonology teaching,which provides some reference for the teachers and helps the students to improve their phonological learning.