The perception of code-switched speech in noise.

This study investigates heritage bilingual speakers' perception of naturalistic code-switched sentences (i.e., use of both languages in one sentence). Studies of single word perception suggest that code-switching is more difficult to perceive than single language speech. However, such difficulties may not extend to more naturalistic sentences, where predictability and other cues may serve to ameliorate such difficulties. Fifty-four Mexican-American Spanish heritage bilinguals transcribed sentences in noise in English, Spanish, and code-switched blocks. Participants were better at perceiving speech in single language blocks than code-switched blocks. The results indicate that increased language co-activation when perceiving code-switching results in significant processing costs.

本研究调查了传承双语者对自然语码转换句子（即在一个句子中使用两种语言）的感知。对单个单词感知的研究表明，语码转换比单一语言的言语更难感知。然而，这种困难可能不会延伸到更自然的句子中，在这些句子中，可预测性和其他线索可能有助于缓解这种困难。54名墨西哥裔美国西班牙语传承双语者在英语、西班牙语和语码转换组块中记录含噪句子。参与者在单一语言组块中比在语码转换组块中更善于感知言语。结果表明，在感知语码转换时语言共同激活的增加会导致显著的处理成本。