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Inner speech

Inner speech, otherwise known as intrapersonal communication, is the internal use of language or thought. Inner speech can be useful for such things as rehearsing facts, having mental conversations with oneself, and counting. Studies have shown that fluent bilinguals use the first language they have learned to mentally represent exact numbers, however, non-numerical facts are retrieved with equal ease in any of the languages of which the user is proficient. Bilingual individuals report feeling and acting different when in different linguistic mindsets, and are capable of switching between those mindsets for the strategic purpose of activating different context and language dependent information, such as remembering an autobiographical memory in the language or language-related context of which it occurred. As perceived language proficiency in a second languages increases, the use of that second language for inner speech becomes more habitual. It has been reported that bilinguals who suffer from psychosis experience hallucinations or reduced linguistic competence in only one language, though which language that occurs in has differed across neuro-linguistic studies.

Bilingual semantic memory

Semantic memory is a term coined by experimental psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist Endel Tulving, and, while related to episodic memory, where memory of experiences and specific events can be recalled, semantic memory does differ. Semantic memory contains all the attributes of event-free knowledge, and relates to general facts, such as the sky is blue, and 2+2=4. Semantic memory does not require conscious thought, as it generally is automatic and is not bound to emotion or specific memories.

Bilingual and monolingual semantic memory is often tested using word fluency tests, to gauge whether and how well individuals organizes thoughts. These tests have indicated that the type of material being studied is not necessarily of importance, but rather the mental activity. It is also found that the bilingualism effect can be observed more under automatic processing than under deliberate processing.

There are two predominant models of bilingual memory, the Hierarchical Model and the Concept Features Model. The Hierarchical Model assumes three linked components: 1) a first language lexicon, or vocabulary. 2) A second language lexicon, or vocabulary. 3) A conceptual store containing semantic referents, which distinguishes a single, universal meaning to a word. In this model, links from the words in both the first language lexicon and the second language lexicon to the meanings in the underlying conceptual store would be strong for fluent bilinguals. For newer bilinguals, links running from the second language lexicon to the conceptual store would be relatively weak, if present at all. However, for the newer bilingual, the links from the second language lexicon to the first language lexicon would be the strong ones. Therefore, the bilingual would translate a word from the second language into the first language and from there access the conceptual store, or basic idea of what the word represents. In the Concept Features Model, when words have concrete referents such as desk, or juice, the translations in both languages would activate the same set of underlying semantic nodes. In more conceptual and abstract referents such as poverty, or intelligence, translation equivalents activate different but overlapping sets of semantic nodes, or words.

In bilingual memory, the same word translated in both languages are not stored as synonyms, instead they share the same supralinguistic semantic representation in memory. Meaning they share the same abstraction of meaning more primitive than the word itself, it cannot be defined. Words in either language are stored in a tag on a language free semantic representation of the world, where the input language is stored as a semantic trace.

In general, a positive effect of bilingualism in semantic memory is more pronounced for older than for younger children. Since bilingual children engage in extensive practice of two languages at an early age, they become better at paying attention to parts of information and at inhibiting other parts. Overall, they have better recall and recognition in letter fluency especially when older and more educated, but the more similarity between their two languages the less the advantage, as when both languages are very similar, there is more overlap of information.

Bilingual mental lexicon

See also: Bilingual lexicon

Mental lexicon refers to the permanent store of words in an individual's memory, and is thought to be organized in a semantic network. This network is related to the spreading activation model purposed by Collins and Loftus, as one word, or node, is activated, words that are semantically and lexically related will also be activated.

Mental Lexicon Model

Evidence has been found to support the view that a bilingual individual has the same conceptual system for both of their languages. Dong, Gui, and Macwhinney have demonstrated the convergence of a new language into a preexisting mental lexicon in their article "Shared and Separate Meanings in the Bilingual Mental Lexicon". When a person first learns a second language, the language has its own conceptual system and is heavily reliant on the first language to gain understanding and meaning of the new words. For example, a Spanish learner is learning the word "gato", and will refer back to their original language (ex. English) to translate it into "cat" to gain meaning, relation, and contextual information surrounding that word. However, the more advanced an individual becomes in acquiring a certain language, the two conceptual systems will eventual converge into one, where one language influences the other and vice versa.

Tip of the tongue in bilinguals

It has been found that Bilinguals are more susceptible to the tip of the tongue, in cases where the phonology of a word is different in both languages. For example, when recalling a word such as "hair" in English, there is more interference from the French word "cheveux", because they sound and are spelled differently. However, when a word is phonologically similar in both languages, bilinguals produce less errors than individuals who are monolingual. For example, the word "chocolate" is similar to the translated word in French, which is "chocolat". Overall, bilinguals experience the tip of the tongue phenomenon more than individuals who are monolingual. This is confirmed by the evidence that bilinguals are less able to recall words, or initiate representations of words that are different in each language.