The Effect of Gender on L1-L2 Syntactic Processing in Turkish-Persian Balanced Bilinguals Using Fmri; [شقنتیسنجردشزادرپیوحننابزلواومودردیاههنابزود نزاوتمیکرت–یسرافابهدافتسازاfmri] Publisher



Meykadeh S ; Sommer W ; Golfam A ; Batouli S A H
Source: Language Related Research Published:2027

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the effect of gender on the L1-L2 simultaneously morphosyntactic processing in balanced bilinguals who learned their L2 at the age of seven. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (ER-fMRI), Turkish-Persian balanced bilinguals (15 women and 15 men) performed an auditory grammaticality judgment task with an alternating language switching paradigm. Based on the Bilingual Dominance Scale (Dunn and Fox Tree, 2009), no significant difference was observed between the participants' proficiency in their L1 (Turkish) and L2 (Persian). Imaging results demonstrated strong neural similarity between men and women in two left-lateralized syntax-specific ROIs (Pars opercularis and posterior superior temporal gyrus), supporting the indistinguishable gender performance during L1-L2 simultaneously morphosyntactic processing. In addition, in EF-specific areas in right-hemisphere (planum temporale, supplementary motor area, superior parietal lobule and superior frontal gyrus), we did not observe differences in hemispheric recruitment by men and women, evidencing empirically for gender sameness in lateralization. Therefore, the present task and sample are not consistent with the previous claims that women show (a) superior language performance and (b) less lateralization. In general, our findings suggest that L1 and L2 simultaneously morphosyntactic processing in balanced bilinguals is not affected by the gender parameter. © 2027, Tarbiat Modares University. All rights reserved.