Brain, Vol 121, Issue 10 1841-1852, Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press
D Perani, E Paulesu, NS Galles, E Dupoux, S Dehaene, V Bettinardi, SF Cappa, F Fazio and J Mehler
Functional imaging methods show differences in the pattern of cerebral
activation associated with the subject's native language (L1) compared with
a second language (L2). In a recent PET investigation on bilingualism we
showed that auditory processing of stories in L1 (Italian) engages the
temporal lobes and temporoparietal cortex more extensively than L2
(English). However, in that study the Italian subjects learned L2 late and
attained a fair, but not an excellent command of this language (low
proficiency, late acquisition bilinguals). Thus, the different patterns of
activation could be ascribed either to age of acquisition or to proficiency
level. In the current study we use a similar paradigm to evaluate the
effect of early and late acquisition of L2 in highly proficient bilinguals.
We studied a group of Italian-English bilinguals who acquired L2 after the
age of 10 years (high proficiency, late acquisition bilinguals) and a group
of Spanish-Catalan bilinguals who acquired L2 before the age of 4 years
(high proficiency, early acquisition bilinguals). The differing cortical
responses we had observed when low proficiency volunteers listened to
stories in L1 and L2 were not found in either of the high proficiency
groups in this study. Several brain areas, similar to those observed for L1
in low proficiency bilinguals, were activated by L2. These findings suggest
that, at least for pairs of L1 and L2 languages that are fairly close,
attained proficiency is more important than age of acquisition as a
determinant of the cortical representation of L2.
ARTICLES
The bilingual brain. Proficiency and age of acquisition of the second language
Istituto di Neuroscienze e Bioimmagini-CNR, Scientific Institute H. San Raffaele, University of Milan, Milano, Italy.
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