Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-14T18:00:22.152Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

24 - Multilingualism and Language Impairment

from Part V - L3/Ln and Cognition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2023

By
Mira Goral  and
Talita Fortunato-Tavares
Edited by
Jennifer Cabrelli ,
Adel Chaouch-Orozco ,
Jorge González Alonso ,
Sergio Miguel Pereira Soares ,
Eloi Puig-Mayenco  and
Jason Rothman
Jennifer Cabrelli
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago
Adel Chaouch-Orozco
Affiliation:
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Jorge González Alonso
Affiliation:
Universidad Nebrija, Spain and UiT, Arctic University of Norway
Sergio Miguel Pereira Soares
Affiliation:
Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Eloi Puig-Mayenco
Affiliation:
King's College London
Jason Rothman
Affiliation:
UiT, Arctic University of Norway and Universidad Nebrija, Spain
Get access

Summary

In this chapter, we review studies of multilingual people with language impairments, specifically autism, dyslexia, and developmental language disorder in children, and aphasia and traumatic brain injury in adults. We address three topics that have emerged: disadvantages and advantages of being multilingual, the manifestation of impairments across different languages, and cross-language effects following intervention. Whereas the field of language impairment and bilingualism has seen a growth in the number of publications, only a few studies have focused specifically on multilingual people, and even fewer have compared multilingual to bilingual individuals. Methodological differences among the studies and the limited amount of data for each communication disorder impede our ability to draw consistent conclusions. Despite these limitations, we discuss common themes and point to future directions. Furthermore, we propose that the study of more than two languages can add to our understanding of key aspects of language impairment, representation, and processing.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Third Language Acquisition , pp. 633 - 658
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adlof, S. M., & Hogan, T. P. (2018). Understanding Dyslexia in the Context of Developmental Language Disorders. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 49(4), 762–773.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
American Speech–Language and Hearing Association (n.d.). Autism (Autism Spectrum Disorder). www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/Autism/.Google Scholar
Andrade, C. F., Befi-Lopes, D. M., Fernandes, F. D., & Wetzner, H. F. (2004). ABFW: Teste de linguagem lnfantil nas áreas de fonologia, vocabulário, fluência e pragmática (2nd ed.). Barueri: Pro Fono.Google Scholar
Ansaldo, A. I., Marcotte, K., Scherer, L., & Raboyeau, G. (2008). Language Therapy and Bilingual Aphasia: Clinical Implications of Psycholinguistic and Neuroimaging Research. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 21, 539–557.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. (2017). The Bilingual Adaptation: How Minds Accommodate Experience. Psychological Bulletin, 143(3), 233–262.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E., & Martin, M. M. (2004). Attention and Inhibition in Bilingual Children: Evidence from the Dimensional Change Card Sort Task. Developmental Science, 7, 325–339.Google Scholar
Bishop, D., Snowling, M. J., Thompson, P. A., Greenhalgh, T., & CATALISE-2 Consortium (2017). Phase 2 of CATALISE: A Multinational and Multidisciplinary Delphi Consensus Study of Problems with Language Development: Terminology. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 58(10), 1068–1080.Google Scholar
Brookshire, R. H., & McNeil, M. R. (2015). Introduction to Neurogenic Communication Disorders (8th ed.). St. Louis: Mosby.Google Scholar
Cheuk, W., Wong, V., & Leung, G. M. (2005). Multilingual Home Environment and Specific Language Impairment: A Case–Control Study in Chinese Children. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 19(4), 303–314.Google Scholar
Cline, T., & Frederickson, N. (1999). Identification and Assessment of Dyslexia in Bi/multilingual Children. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 2(2), 81–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conner, P. S., Goral, M., Anema, I., et al. (2018). The Role of Language Proficiency and Linguistic Distance in Cross-Linguistic Treatment Effects in Aphasia. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 32(8), 739–757.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Costa, A.S., Jokel, R., Villarejo, A., et al. (2019). Bilingualism in Primary Progressive Aphasia: A Retrospective Study on Clinical and Language Characteristics. Alzheimer Disease and Associated Disorders, 33, 47–53.Google Scholar
Croft, S., Marshall, J., Pring, T., & Hardwick, M. (2011). Therapy for Naming Difficulties in Bilingual Aphasia: Which Language Benefits? International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 46, 48–62.Google ScholarPubMed
De Bot, K., & Jaensch, C. (2015). What Is Special about L3 Processing? Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(2), 130–144.Google Scholar
de Bot, K., Lowie, W., Verspoor, M. H. (2007). A Dynamic Systems Theory Approach to Second Language Acquisition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 10, 7–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunn, L. M., Lugo, D. E., Padilla, E., & Dunn, L. M. (1997). Test de Vocabulario en Imágenes Peabody. Circle Pines, MN: AGSGoogle Scholar
Ellajosyula, R., Narayanan, J., & Patterson, K. (2020). Striking Loss of Second Language in Bilingual Patients with Semantic Dementia, Journal of Neurology, 267, 551–560.Google Scholar
Eng, N., & Obler, L. K. (2002). Acquired Dyslexia in a Biscript Reader Following Traumatic Brain Injury: A Second Case. Topics in Language Disorders, 22, 5–19.Google Scholar
Fabbro, F. (2001). The Bilingual Brain: Bilingual Aphasia. Brain and Language, 79(2), 201–210.Google Scholar
Faroqi-Shah, Y., Frymark, T., Mullen, R., & Wang, B. (2010). Effect of Treatment for Bilingual Individuals with Aphasia: A Systematic Review of the Evidence. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 23, 319–341.Google Scholar
Figueroa, R. A. (1989). Psychological Testing of Linguistic Minority Students: Knowledge Gaps and Regulations. Exceptional Children, 56(2), 145–152.Google Scholar
Filley, C. M., Ramsberger, G., Menn, L., et al. (2006). Primary Progressive Aphasia in a Bilingual Woman. Neurocase, 12, 296–299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gatlin, B., & Wanzek, J. (2017). Elementary Students’ Use of Dialect and Reading Achievement: Examining Students with Disabilities. Exceptional children, 84(1), 97–115.Google Scholar
Golden, J. (1978). Stroop Color and Word Test. Illinois: Stoelting Company.Google Scholar
Gollan, T. H., Montoya, R. I., Fennema-Notestine, C., & Morris, S. K. (2005). Bilingualism Affects Picture Naming but Not Picture Classification. Memory and Cognition, 33, 1220–1234.Google Scholar
Gollan, T. H., Montoya, R. I., Cera, C., & Sandoval, T. C. (2008). More Use Almost Always a Means a Smaller Frequency Effect: Aging, Bilingualism, and the Weaker Links Hypothesis. Journal of Memory and Language, 58(3), 787–814.Google Scholar
Goral, M. (2012). Cross-Language Treatment Effects in Multilingual Aphasia. In Gitterman, M. R., Goral, M., & Obler, L. K. (Eds.), Aspects of Multilingual Aphasia (pp. 106–121). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Goral, M., & Lerman, A. (2020). Variables and Mechanisms Affecting Response to Language Treatment in Multilingual People with Aphasia. Behavioral Sciences, 10(9), article 144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goral, M., Levy, E. S., Obler, L. K., & Cohen, E. (2006). Cross-Language Lexical Connections in the Mental Lexicon: Evidence from a Case of Trilingual Aphasia. Brain and Language, 98(2), 235–247.Google Scholar
Goral, M., Levy, E. S., & Kastl, R. (2010). Cross-Language Treatment Generalization: A Case of Trilingual Aphasia. Aphasiology, 24, 170–187.Google Scholar
Goral, M., Rosas, J., Conner, P. S., Maul, K. K., & Obler, L. K. (2012). Effects of Language Proficiency and Language of the Environment on Aphasia Therapy in a Multilingual. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 25, 538–551.Google Scholar
Goral, M., Naghibolhosseini, M., & Conner, P. S. (2013). Asymmetric Inhibitory Treatment Effects in Multilingual Aphasia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 30, 564–577.Google Scholar
Gorno-Tempini, M. L., Hillis, A. E., Weintraub, S., et al. (2011). Classification of Primary Progressive Aphasia and Its Variants. Neurology, 76(11), 1006–1014.Google Scholar
Green, D. W., Ruffle, L., Grogan, A., et al. (2011). Parallel Recovery in a Trilingual Speaker: The Use of the Bilingual Aphasia Test as a Diagnostic Complement to the Comprehensive Aphasia Test. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 25, 499–512.Google Scholar
Griffiths, R. (1984). The Abilities of Young Children: A Comprehensive System of Measurement for the First Eight Years of Life. Amersham: Association for Research in Infant and Child Development.Google Scholar
Grohmann, K., & Kambanaros, M. (2016). The Gradience of Multi-lingualism in Typical and Impaired Language Development: Positioning Bilectalism within Comparative Bilingualism. Frontiers in Psychology: Language Sciences, 7, 37.Google Scholar
Håkansson, G., & Salameh, E-K., & Nettelbladt, U. (2003). Measuring Language Development in Bilingual Children: Swedish Arabic Children with and without Language Impairment. Linguistics, 41, 255–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hambly, C., & Fombonne, E. (2012). The Impact of Bilingual Environments on Language Development in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42, 1342–1352.Google Scholar
Hejazi, Z., Nieves, Y., Dilone, R., et al. (2019).Language Treatment in Bilingual and Multilingual Individuals with Aphasia. Orlando: American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Convention.Google Scholar
Herdina, P., & Jessner, U. (2002). A Dynamic Model of Multilingualism: Perspectives of Change in Psycholinguistics. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoffmann, C. (2001). Towards a Description of Trilingual Competence. International Journal of Bilingualism, 5, 1–17.Google Scholar
Jegatheesan, B. (2011). Multilingual Development in Children with Autism: Perspectives of South Asian Muslim Immigrant Parents on Raising a Child with a Communicative Disorder in Multilingual Contexts. Bilingual Research Journal, 34(2), 185–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jessner, U. (2008). A DST Model of Multilingualism and the Role of Metalinguistic Awareness. The Modern Language Journal, 92, 270–283.Google Scholar
Kay, J., Lesser, R., & Coltheart, M. (1992). Psycholinguistic Assessment of Language Processing in Aphasia. Hove: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Kambanaros, M., Michaelides, M., & Grohmann, K. (2015). Measuring Word Retrieval Deficits in a Multilingual Child with SLI: Is There a Better Language? Journal of Neurolinguistics, 34, 112–130.Google Scholar
Kambanaros, M., Michaelides, M., & Grohmann, K. (2017). Cross-Linguistic Transfer Effects after Phonologically Based Cognate Therapy in a Case of Multilingual Specific Language Impairment (SLI). International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 52(3), 270–284.Google Scholar
Kastenbaum, J. G., Bedore, L. M., Peña, E. D., et al. (2019). The Influence of Proficiency and Language Combination on Bilingual Lexical Access. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 22, 300–330.Google Scholar
Kavé, G., Eyal, N, Shorek, A., & Cohen-Mansfield, J. (2008). Multilingualism and Cognitive State in the Oldest Old. Psychology and Aging, 23(1), 70–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kay-Raining Bird, E., Lamond, E., & Holden, J. (2012). Survey of Bilingualism in Autism Spectrum Disorders. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 47, 52–64.Google Scholar
Kiran, S., & Roberts, P. M. (2010). Semantic Feature Analysis Treatment in Spanish–English and French–English Bilingual Aphasia. Aphasiology, 24, 231–261.Google Scholar
Kiran, S., Sandberg, C., Gray, T., Ascenso, E., & Kester, E. (2013). Rehabilitation in Bilingual Aphasia: Evidence for Within- and Between-Language Generalization. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 22, S298.Google Scholar
Knoph, M. I. N., Lind, M., & Simonsen, H. G. (2015). Semantic Feature Analysis Targeting Verbs in a Quadrilingual Speaker with Aphasia. Aphasiology, 29, 1473–1496.Google Scholar
Knoph, M. I. N., Simonsen, H. G., & Lind, M. (2017). Cross-Linguistic Transfer Effects of Verb-Production Therapy in Two Cases of Multilingual Aphasia. Aphasiology, 31(12), 1482–1509.Google Scholar
Kohnert, K. (2004). Cognitive and Cognate-Based Treatments for Bilingual Aphasia: A Case Study. Brain and Language, 91, 294–302.Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F., & Dissias, P. E. (2017). The Benefits of Multilingualism to the Personal and Professional Development of Residents of the US. Foreign Language Annals, 50(2), 248–259.Google Scholar
Kuzmina, E., Goral, M., Norvik, M. I., & Weekes, B. (2019). What Influences Language Impairment in Bilingual Aphasia? A Meta-analytic Review. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1–22.Google Scholar
Leonard, L.B., Miller, C., & Gerber, E. (1999). Grammatical Morphology and the Lexicon in Children with Specific Language Impairment. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 42(3), 678–689.Google Scholar
Lerman, A., Goral, M., & Obler, L. K. (2020). The Complex Relationship between Pre-Stroke and Post-Stroke Language Abilities in Multilingual Individuals with Aphasia. Aphasiology, 34(11), 1319–1340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lezak, M., Howieson, D., & Loring, D. (2004). Neuropsychological Assessment (4th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lindner, K., & Johnston, J. (1992). Grammatical Morphology in Language-Impaired Children Acquiring English or German as Their First Language: A Functional Perspective. Applied Psycholinguistics, 13, 115–129.Google Scholar
Liu, Y-C., P-K, Yip, Fan, Y-M., & Meguro, K. (2012). A Potential Protective Effect in Multilingual Patients with Semantic Dementia: Two Case Reports of Patients Speaking Taiwanese and Japanese. Acta Neurologica Taiwanica, 21(1), 25–30.Google Scholar
Manchon, M., Buetler, K., Colombo, F., et al. (2014). Impairment of Both Languages in Late Bilinguals with Dementia of Alzheimer Type. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18, 90–100.Google Scholar
Martin, D. (2009). Language Disabilities in Cultural and Linguistic Diversity. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLeod, S., & Verdon, S. (2017). Tutorial: Speech Assessment for Multilingual Children Who Do Not Speak the Same Language(s) as the Speech-Language Pathologist. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 26(3), 691–708.Google Scholar
Miertsch, B., Meisel, J. M., & Isel, F. (2009). Non-Treated Languages in Aphasia Therapy of Polyglots Benefit from Improvement in the Treated Language. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 22, 135–150.Google Scholar
Monsrud, M., Rydland, V., Geva, E., Thurmann-Moe, A., & Lyster, S. (2019). The Advantages of Jointly Considering First and Second Language Vocabulary Skills Among Emergent Bilingual Children. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 25(1), 42–58.Google Scholar
Nadeau, S. E. (2019). Bilingual Aphasia: Explanations in Population Encoding. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 49, 117–143.Google Scholar
Norvik, M., & Goral., M. (2021). Assessment Challenges in Acquired Aphasia in Multilingual Individuals. In Blackwood, R. & Røyneland, U. (Eds.), Multilingualism across the Lifespan. (pp.189–208) London: Routledge.Google Scholar
OECD. (2001). Knowledge and Skills for Life: First Results from PISA 2000. Paris: OECD Publications.Google Scholar
Paap, K.R., Anders-Jefferson, R., Mason, L., Alvarado, K., & Zimiga, B. (2018). Bilingual Advantages in Inhibition or Selective Attention: More Challenges. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, article 1409.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paplikar, A. (2016). Language-Mixing in Discourse in Bilingual Individuals with Non-fluent Aphasia. Doctoral dissertation, CUNY Graduate Center.Google Scholar
Paplikar, A., Mekala, S., Bak, T. H., et al. (2019). Bilingualism and the Severity of Poststroke Aphasia. Aphasiology, 33(1), 58–72.Google Scholar
Paradis, M. (1977). Bilingualism and Aphasia. In Whitaker, H. & Whitaker, H. A. (Eds.), Studies in Neurolinguistics (vol. 3; pp. 65–121). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Paradis, M. (2001). Bilingual and Polyglot Aphasia. In Berndt, R. S. (Ed.), Handbook of Neuropsychology (vol. 3; 2nd ed.; pp. 69–91). Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.Google Scholar
Paradis, M. (2004). A Neurolinguistic Theory of Bilingualism. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Paradis, M., & Libben, G. (1987). The Assessment of Bilingual Aphasia. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Paradis, J., Genesee, F., & Crago, M. (2011). Dual Language Development & Disorders: A Handbook on Bilingualism & Second Language Learning (2nd ed.). Baltimore: Paul H. Brooks Publishing.Google Scholar
Peña, E. D., Gutierrez-Clellen, V. F., Iglesias, A., Goldstein, B., & Bedore, L. M. (2014). BESA: Bilingual English–Spanish Assessment. San Rafael, CA: AR Clinical Publications.Google Scholar
Peñaloza, C., Grasemann, U., Dekhtyar, M., Miikkulainen, R., & Kiran, S. (2019). BiLex: A Computational Approach to the Effects of Age of Acquisition and Language Exposure on Bilingual Lexical Access. Brain and Language, 195, article 104643.Google Scholar
Penn, C., Frankel, T., Watermeyer, J., & Russell, N. (2010). Executive Function and Conversational Strategies in Bilingual Aphasia. Aphasiology, 24, 288–308.Google Scholar
Raven, J. C. (1938). Progressive Matrices: A Perceptual Test of Intelligence. London: H.K. Lewis.Google Scholar
Ray, J. (2002). Treating Phonological Disorders in a Multilingual Child: A Case Study. American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 11(3), 305–315.Google Scholar
Reynell, J. K., & Gruber, C. P. (1990). Reynell Developmental Language Scales. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.Google Scholar
Sebastian, D., Dalvi, U., & Obler, L. K. (2012). Language Deficits, Recovery Patterns, And Effective Intervention in a Multilingual 16 years post-TBI. In Gitterman, M. R., Goral, M., & Obler, L. K. (Eds.), Aspects of Multilingual Aphasia (pp. 122–138). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Semel, E., Wiig, E. H., & Secord, W. A. (2006). Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals–Fourth Edition, Spanish Version (CELF-4 Spanish). San Antonio, TX: Pearson Education Inc.Google Scholar
Shallice, T. (1982). Specific Impairments of Planning. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 298, 199–209.Google Scholar
Siyambalapitiya, S., Paynter, J., Nair, V. K., et al. (2021). Longitudinal Social and Communication Outcomes in Children with Autism Raised in Bi/Multilingual Environments. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 52(1), 339–348.Google Scholar
The SLI Consortium. (2002). A Genomewide Scan Identifies Two Novel Loci Involved in Specific Language Impairment. The American Journal of Human Genetics, 70(2), 384–398.Google Scholar
Spreen, O., & Strauss, E. (1998). A Compendium of Neuropsychological Tests: Administration, Norms and Commentary (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Stroop, J. R. (1935). Studies of Interference in Serial Verbal Reactions. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 18, 643–662.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swinburn, K., Porter, G., & Howard, D. (2004). Comprehensive Aphasia Test. Hove: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Thordardottir, E., & Namazi, M. (2007). Specific Language Impairment in French-Speaking Children: Beyond Grammatical Morphology. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50, 698–715.Google Scholar
Tomblin, J. B., Records, N. L., Buckwalter, P. et al. (1997). Prevalence of Specific Language Impairment in Kindergarten Children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research : JSLHR, 40(6), 1245–1260.Google Scholar
Tomoschuk, B., Ferreira, V., & Gollan, T. (2019). When a Seven Is Not a Seven: Self-Ratings of Bilingual Language Proficiency Differ between and within Language Populations. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 22, 516–536.Google Scholar
Tuller, L. (2018). Clinical Use of Parental Questionnaires in Multilingual Contexts. In Armon-Lotem, S., de Jong, J., & Meir, N. (Eds.), Assessing Multilingual Children (pp. 301–330). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Uljarević, K. (2016). Practitioner Review: Multilingualism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders – An Overview of Recent Research and Discussion of Clinical Implications. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(11), 1205–1217.Google Scholar
Unsworth, E. (2013). Current Issues in Multilingual First Language Acquisition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 33, 21–50.Google Scholar
Walsh, K. (2000). Anatomical Risk Factors for Specific Language Impairment. Journal of Undergraduate Research, 1, 1–6.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×