Partner-adapted language balance and bilingual switching in social interaction
Language is a central tool of social interaction. However, little is known about how bilingual speech production unfolds in interactive contexts. Speaking in a non-dominant language requires flexible regulation of language availability to adapt to situational demands- a state we refer to as situational language balance. We propose that social interaction provides a strong context for such adaptations. This project investigates how bilingual speech production is shaped by two central features of social interaction. We examine this in two complementary research strands: Research Strand A investigates how speakers adapt their language choice to the linguistic background of their interaction partner. In particular, we examine how a partner’s linguistic background influences the speaker’s situational language balance and favors the shared language(s). Project line B focuses on bilingual turntaking and examines the mutual influence of language production and language comprehension in joint language-switching tasks. Here, we analyze how situational language balance is dynamically shaped by the current language use of both speakers. Both project lines focus on the lexical level and use bilingual picture-naming tasks to measure naming latencies as an indicator of situational language balance. Additionally, event-related potentials provide insights into the cognitive processes underlying these adjustments. By investigating how speakers adapt their language use to social partners and contexts, this project is directly aligned with the research group’s core principle that bilinguals flexibly adjust their situational language balance to situational demands. Our findings will contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms governing bilingual speech production in socially interactive contexts.