Effects of Perceived Accent on Code-Switching Processing

Code-switching (CS) is often characterized as cognitively demanding. However, CS is constrained by social experience. Bilinguals exploit (extra-)linguistic cues, such as the perceived language knowledge of a peer, to dynamically adapt their expectation of CS, thereby attenuating CS processing costs. In the present study, we test whether Spanish-English bilinguals adapt their expectations for upcoming switched structures based on perceived speaker accent.

We test early Spanish-English bilinguals (current n = 55; total expected n = 72) using a visual world paradigm eye-tracking task. Participants view two images that matched or mismatch in grammatical gender while listening to sentences containing a switch between a gendered Spanish determiner and an English noun, a structure with a greater preference for masculine determiners in CS production. The sentences were produced by speakers of Caribbean, Peninsular, or L2 Spanish (between-participant manipulation); based on participant bilingual experience, the Caribbean dialect should most closely link to frequent CS.

Preliminary results will be presented at the UF Spring Undergraduate Research Symposium.