Language processing of diverse languages, including in bilinguals, multilinguals, and polyglots

Only published papers are included; for preprints, see Papers.
Last Updated: May 2024

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The cross-linguistic universality of the language-processing mechanisms

Approximately 7,000 languages are spoken and signed across the world, but most of what we know about the neural infrastructure of language comes from studies of English, German, Dutch, and a handful of other languages. This paper demonstrates that the language network is similar across native speakers of 45 diverse languages.

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Language processing in polyglots and hyperpolyglots

Much research has been carried out on monolinguals or individuals who speak two languages (bilinguals). However, a small fraction of the world’s population master many languages (sometimes, several dozen). Such individuals—polyglots or hyperpolyglots—have received relatively little attention in cognitive science and neuroscience. We are trying to learn about language and cognition from this unique population.

This paper shows that the language network of polyglots is smaller in size and works less during the processing of native language compared to non-polyglots.