Language and thought in a multilingual context: the case of isiXhosa

Bylund, E. and Athanasopoulos, P. (2014) Language and thought in a multilingual context: the case of isiXhosa. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 17 (2). pp. 431-441. ISSN 1469-1841 doi: 10.1017/S1366728913000503

Abstract/Summary

Situated within the grammatical aspect approach to motion event cognition, this study takes a first step in investigating language and thought in functional multilinguals by studying L1 isiXhosa speakers living in South Africa. IsiXhosa being a non-aspect language, the study investigates how the knowledge and use of additional languages with grammatical aspect influence cognition of endpoint-oriented motion events among L1 isiXhosa speakers. Results from a triads-matching task show that participants who often used aspect languages and had greater exposure to English in primary education were less prone to rely on endpoints when categorising motion events.