BILINGUALISM AND INTER-LINGUAL INTERFERENCE

The hypothesis of interlingual interference was tested by employing the network model of the semantic memory. Ninety-three true-false propositions were presented to English monolinguals and Spanish-English bilingual subjects. Two variables were measured: the reaction time to the true-false items, and the semantic judgment. It was found that subjects operating in a monolingual context performed equally well. However, the performance of subjects operating in a dual language context was significantly impaired. Difference in hierarchical organization of the semantic memory for the two languages was an important factor in determining interlingual interference. © 1978, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.