Bilingualism and the caudate nucleus: control in language use
Abstract
This study investigates the linguistic performance of a bilingual patient with damage to the caudate nucleus. The literature suggests that lesions in this region affect three primary linguistic functions: control of language in use, lexical access and prosody. To determine which of these deficits were present in the patient, various tasks were conducted: naming, semi-structured conversation and recorded reading. The findings show that the patient was able to activate both languages in directed conditions, and prosodic performance remained normal. However, difficulties were observed in semi-structured conversation, in which code-switching occurred involuntarily. This suggests that the lesion affects control of language in non-structured tasks. This study contributes to the understanding of the role of the caudate nucleus in bilingual linguistic behaviour and its impact on the regulation of language use.Downloads
-
Abstract105
-
PDF (Español (España))25
References
ABUTALEBI, Jubin y David W. GREEN (2008): «Control mechanisms in bilingual language production: Neural evidence from language switching studies», Language and Cognitive Processes, 23(4), pp. 557-582. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1080/01690960801920602
ABUTALEBI, Jubin y David W. GREEN (2016): «Neuroimaging of language control in bilinguals: neural adaptation and reserve», Bilingualism: Language and cognition, 19(4), pp. 689-698. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1017/S1366728916000225
ABUTALEBI, Jubin, Michele MIOZZO y Stefano F. CAPPA (2000): «Do Subcortical Structures Control ‘Language Selection’ in Polyglots? Evidence from Pathological Language Mixing», Neurocase, 6, pp. 51-56. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1093/neucas/6.1.56
ADCOCK, Lucy (2018): First language education provisions in a second language environment: The effects of learning L1 English as an L2 in Catalonia, Spain. [Tesis doctoral, University of East Anglia].
BIALYSTOK, Ellen (2009): «Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent», Bilingualism, 12(1), pp. 3-11. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1017/S1366728908003477
BLANCO-ELORRIETA, Esti y Alfonso CARAMAZZA (2021): «A common selection mechanism at each linguistic level in bilingual and monolingual language production», Cognition, 213. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104625
BLUMSTEIN, Sheila E. y Kathleen KUROWSKI (2006): «The foreign accent syndrome: a perspective», Journal of Neurolinguistics, 19, pp. 346-355. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1016/j.jneuroling.2006.03.003
CÁCERES-LUNA, Guillermo, Verónica BELÓN-HERCILLA, Marlene COCALLA y Marcos SOTO-AÑARI (2021): «Differences in executive functions between bilingual and monolingual teenagers and older adults», Revista CES Psicología, 14(2), pp. 164-178. DOI: http://doi.org.10.21615/CESP.5447
CALABRIA, Mario, Albert COSTA, David W. GREEN y Jubin ABUTALEBI (2018): «Neural basis of bilingual language control», Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1426(1), pp. 221-235. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1111/nyas.13879
CALABRIA Mario, Paula MARNE, Lucía ROMERO-PINELl, Monserrat JUNCADELLA y Albert COSTA (2014): «Losing control of your languages: a case study», Cognitive Neuropsychology, 31(3), pp. 266-86. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1080/02643294.2013.879443
CHENG, Li-Rong y Kevin BUTLER (1989): «Code switching: a natural phenomenon vs. language ‘deficiency’», Word Englishes, 8(3), pp. 193-309. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1111/J.1467-971X.1989.TB00670.X
COSTA, Albert, Mireia HERNÁNDEZ y Cristina BAUS (2015): «El cerebro bilingüe», Mente y cerebro, 71, pp. 34-41.
COSTA, Albert, Michele MIOZZO y Alfonso CARAMAZZA (1999): «Lexical selection in bilinguals: so words in the bilingual’s two lexicons compete for selection?», Journal of Memory and Language, 41, pp. 365-397. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1006/jmla.1999.2651
COSTA, Albert y Nuria SEBARTIÁN-GALLÉS (2014): «How does the bilingual experience sculpt the brain?», Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 15(5), pp. 336–345. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1038/nrn3709
CUETOS, Fernando y María GONZÁLEZ-NOSTI (2009): Batería para la evaluación de los trastornos afásicos (BETA), Madrid, Instituto de Orientación Psicológica EOS.
DALLER, Helmut, Roeland VAN HOUT y Jeanine TREFFERS-DALLER (2003): «Lexical richness in spontaneous speech of bilinguals», Applied Linguistics, 24, pp. 197-222. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/24.2.197
DANKOVICÏOVA, Jana, Jennifer M. GURD, John C. MARSHALL, Mairead K. C. MACMAHONS, Jane STUART-SMITH, John S. COLEMAN y Alan SLATER (2001): «Aspects of non-native pronunciation in a case of altered accent following stroke (foreign accent syndrome)», Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 15(3), pp. 195-218. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1080/02699200010004656
DE GROOT, Annette M. B. (2011): Language and cognition in bilinguals and multilinguals, New York, Psychology Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203841228
DELL, Gary S., Myrna F. SCHWARTZ, Nadine MARTIN, Eleanor M. SAFFRAN y Daniel A. GAGNON (1997): «Lexical access in aphasic and nonaphasic speakers», Psychological Review, 104(4), pp. 801-838. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.104.4.801
DEWAELE, Jean-Marc (2001): «Activation or inhibition? The interaction of L1, L2 and L3 on the Language Mode Continuum», en U. Jessner, B. Hufeisen y J. Cenoz, (eds.), Cross-linguistic influence in third language acquisition: Psycholinguistic perspectives, Clevedon, Multilingual Matters, pp. 69-89. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21832/9781853595509-006
DIÉGUEZ-VIDE, Fernando (2019): Neuroanatomía funcional del lenguaje, Madrid, Síntesis.
DIÉGUEZ-VIDE, Fernando y Jordi PEÑA-CASANOVA (2012): Cerebro y lenguaje. Sintomatología neurolingüística, Madrid, Editorial Médica Panamericana.
FABRO, Franco, Miran SKRAP y Maria AGLIOTI SALVATORE (2000): «Pathological switching between languages after frontal lesions in a bilingual patient», Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, 68(5), pp. 650-652. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1136/jnnp.68.5.650
FELSON, Jonathan (2014): «Case studies and their frameworks», en M. Ball, N. Müller y R. Nelson (eds.), Handbook of qualitative research in communication disorders, Nueva York, Psychology Press, pp. 3-16.
FILIPOVIĆ, Luna y John A. HAWKINS (2019): «The complex adaptive system principles model for bilingualism: Language interactions within and across bilingual minds», International Journal of Bilingualism, 23(6), pp. 1223-1248. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1177/1367006918781076
FYNDANIS, Valantis y Minna LEHTONEN (2022): «Pathological language-switching/mixing and its relationship to damin-general cognitive control», en Unn Royneland y Robert Blackwood (eds.), Multilingualism across the Lifespan, Abingdon, Routledge, pp. 209-230. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003125815-14
GOLLAN, Tamar y Victor S. FERREIRA (2009): «Should I stay or should I switch? A cost-benefit analysis of voluntary language switching in young and aging bilinguals», Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 35(3), pp. 640-665. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1037/a0014981
GOLLAN, Tamar, Rosa MONTOYA, Christine FENNEMA-NOTESTINE y Sarah MORRIS (2005): «Bilingualism affects picture naming but not picture classification», Memory & Cognition, 33(7), pp. 1220-1234. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/bf03193224
GOLLAN, Tamar y Nina SILVERBERG (2001): «Tip-of-the-tongue states in Hebrew-English bilinguals», Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4(1), pp. 63-83. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1017/s136672890100013x
GÓMEZ-RUIZ, Margarita (2010): «Bilingüismo y cerebro: mito y realidad», Neurología, 25(7), pp. 443-452. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1016/j.nrl.2010.04.008
GONZÁLEZ-ÁLVAREZ, Javier, María Ángeles PARCET-IBARS, César ÁVILA y Daniela GEFFNER-SCLARSKY (2003): «Una rara alteración del habla de origen neurológico: el síndrome del acento extranjero», Revista de Neurología, 36(3), pp. 227-234. DOI: https://doi.org/10.33588/rn.3603.2002306
GORAL, Mira, Monica NORVIK y Bent ULRIKE JENSEN (2019): «Variation in language mixing in multilingual aphasia», Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 33(10-11), pp. 915-929. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02699206.2019.1584646
GREEN, David W. (1998): «Mental control of the bilingual lexico-sematic system», Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1(2), pp. 67-81. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728998000133
GREEN, David W. y Jubin ABUTALEBI (2013): «Language control in bilinguals: The adaptative control hypothesis», Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 25(5), pp. 515-530. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2013.796377
GREEN, David W. y Li WEI (2014): «A control process model of code-switching», Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 29. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1080/23273798.2014.882515
GROSJEAN, François (1982): Life with Two Languages: An Introduction to Bilingualism, Cambridge Massachusetts, Harvard University Press.
GROSJEAN, François (1989): «Neurolinguistics, Beware! The Bilingual Is Not Two Monolinguals in One Person», Brain and language, 36, pp. 3-15. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1016/0093-934X(89)90048-5
GROSJEAN, François (2010): Bilingual: Life and Reality, Harvard, Harvard University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674056459
GROSJEAN, François (2022): «Who is Bilingual?», en The Mysteries of Bilingualism. Unresolved Issues, Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons, pp. 22-29. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/9781394260386
GUILLÉN ESCAMILLA, Josaphat Enrique (2020): «Algunas consideraciones sobre el panorama actual de la lingüística clínica», Literatura y Lingüística, 42, pp. 303-329. DOI: http://doi.org.10.29344/0717621X.42.2598
GUO, Taomei, Hong LIU, Maya MISRA y Judith KROLL (2011): «Local and global inhibition in bilingual word production: fMRI evidence from Chinese-English bilinguals», Neuroimage, 56(4), pp. 2300-2309. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.03.049
HEREDIA, Roberto R. (1997): «Bilingual memory and hierarchical models: A case for language dominance», Current Directions in Psychological Science, 6(2), pp. 34-39. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.ep11512617
HERNÁNDEZ JARAMILLO, Janeth, Angélica AVENDAÑO CALDERÓN y Juliana ROJAS RINCÓN (2012): «Efecto de la frecuencia léxica y silábica en la afasia anómica», Revista Ciencias de la Salud, 10, (3), pp. 337-346. DOI: https://doi.org/10.12804/revistas.urosario.edu.co/revsalud/a.2298
HOFFMAN, Charlotte (1991): An Introduction to Bilingualism, London, Longman.
IVANOVA, Irina y Albert COSTA (2008): «Does bilingualism hamper lexical access in speech production?», Acta Psychologica, 127(2), pp. 277-288. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1016/j.actpsy.2007.06.003
KATZ, William F., Debra M. GARST y Jennifer LEVITT (2008): «The role of prosody in a case of foreign accent syndrome (FAS)», Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 22(7), pp. 537–566. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1080/02699200802106284
KONG, Anthony P., Jubin ABUTALEBI, Karen S. LAM y Brendan S. WEEKES (2014): «Executive and language control in the multilingual brain», Behavioural Neurology, pp. 1-7. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1155/2014/527951
KROLL, Judith F. y Annette M. B. DE GROOT (1997): «Lexical and conceptual memory in the bilingual: Mapping form to meaning in two languages», en A. M. B. de Groot y J. F. Kroll (eds.), Tutorials in bilingualism: Psycholinguistic perspectives, Mahwah, Erlbaum, pp. 169-199.
LAHOZ-BENGOECHEA, José Manuel (2015): «¿Qué aporta la fonética contrastiva a la didáctica de ELE?», en T. Murimoto, L. Pavón Lucero y M. Santamaría Martínez (eds.), La enseñanza de ELE centrada en el alumno, Sevilla, ASELE, pp. 49-62.
LAMBERT, Wallace E. (1974): «Culture and language as factors in learning and education», en F. E. Aboud y R. D. Mead (eds.), Cultural factors in learning and education, Bellingham (WA), Fifth Western Washington Symposium on Learning.
LARNER, Andrew (2010): A Dictionary of Neurological Signs, London, Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7095-4_1
LERMAN, Aviva, Lucía PAZUELO, Liat KIZNER, Katy BORODKIN y Mira GORAL (2019): «Language mixing patterns in a bilingual individual with non-fluent aphasia», Aphasiology, 33(9), pp. 1137-1153. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1080/02687038.2018.1546821
LEVELT, Willem J. M., Ardi ROELOFS y Antje S. MEYER (1999): «A theory of lexical access in speech production», Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22(1), pp. 1-38. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1017/s0140525x99001776
LI, Ping, Fan ZHAO, Anya YANG y Xiaowei ZHANG (2020): «Language History Questionnaire (LHQ3): An enhanced tool for assessing multilingual experience», Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 23 (5), pp. 938-944. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1017/S1366728918001153
MACKEY, William (1962): «The description of bilingualism», Canadian Journal of Linguistics, 7, pp. 51-85. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1017/S0008413100019393
MALDONADO DE LA ROSA, Iván (2022): Speech language pathologists’ approach to code-switching with culturally linguistically diverse clients. [Tesis doctoral, Universidad de Puerto Rico].
MARIAN, Viorica, Henrike BLUMENFELD y Margarita KAUSHANSKAYA (2007): «The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing language profiles in bilinguals and multilinguals», American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 50, pp. 940-967. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1044/1092-4388(2007/067)
MCLOUGHLIN, Barry (1984): Second Language Adquisition in Childhood. Vol. 1. Preschool Children, Hillsdale, Lawrence Erlbaum.
MEUTER, Renate F. I. y Alan ALLPORT (1999): «Bilingual Language Switching in Naming: Asymmetrical Costs of Language Selection», Journal of Memory and Language, 40, pp. 25-40. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1006/jmla.1998.2602
MONTRUL, Silvina (2008): Incomplete Acquisition in Bilingualism. Re-examining the Age Factor, Filadelfia, John Benjamins. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.39
MOONIS, Meena, Joanna M. SWEARER, Sheila E. BLUMSTEIN, Kathleen KUROUSWKI, Ruth LICHO, Peter KRAMER, Andrew MITCHELL, Diane L. OSGOOD y David A. DRACHMAN (1996): «Foreign accent syndrome following a closed head injury: Perfusion deficit on single photon emission tomography with normal magnetic resonance imaging», Neuropsychiatry, Neuropsychology and Behavioral Neurology, 9(4), pp. 272-279.
NISSEN, Trygve y Rolf WYNN (2014): «The clinical case report: a review of its merits and limitations», BMC Research Notes, 7(264). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1756-0500-7-264
PAIVIO, Allan, James M. CLARK y Wallace E. LAMBERT (1988): «Bilingual dual coding theory and semantic repetition effects on recall», Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Learning and Memory, 14, pp. 163-172. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1037/0278-7393.14.1.163
PARADIS, Michel (2004): A neurolinguistic theory of bilingualism, Ámsterdan/Filadelfia, John Benjamins.
PICKETT EARL, Elizabeth KUNIHOLM, Athanassios PROTOPAPAS, Joy FRIEDMAN y Philip LIEBERMAN (1998): «Selective Speech Motor, Syntax and Cognitive Deficits Associated with Bilateral Damage to the Putamen and Head of the Caudate Nucleus: A case study», Neuropsychologia, 36, pp. 173-188. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1016/S0028-3932(97)00065-1
PINILLOS CHÁVEZ, Paola (2014): «Esta no es mi voz: una revisión del síndrome del acento extranjero», Estudios interlingüísticos, 2, pp. 107-116.
PITRES, Albert (1895): «Étude sur l’aphasie chez les polyglottes», Revue de médicine, 15, pp. 873-899.
RAPP, Brenda y Matthew GOLDRICK (2000): «Discreteness and interactivity in spoken word production», Psychological Review, 107(3), pp. 460-499. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.107.3.460
RIBOT, Théodule (1881): Les maladies de la mémoire, París, Alcain.
ROBERTS, Paula M., Liliana J. GARCIA, André DESROCHERS y David HERNANDEZ (2002): «English performance of proficient bilingual adults on the Boston Naming Test», Aphasiology, 16(4-6), pp. 635-645. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1080/02687030244000220
SÁNCHEZ-CASAS, Rosa M. (1999): «Una aproximación psicolingüística al estudio del léxico en el hablante bilingüe», en F. Cuetos Vega y M. de Vega Rodríguez (coords.): Psicolingüística del español, Madrid, Trotta, pp. 597-650.
SCHWARTZ, Myrna F. (2013): «Patterns of speech production deficit within and across aphasia syndromes: Application of a psycholinguistic model», en M. Coltheart, G. Sartori y R. Job (eds.), The Cognitive Neuropsychology of Language, Hove, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 163-199.
SEGALOWITZ, Norman (2010): Cognitive bases of second language fluency, Nueva York, Routledge.
SLEEPER, Alexandra (2006): Speech and Language, Nueva York, Infobase Publishing. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203851357
WELLS, Bill y Traci WALKER (2024): «Prosodic Impairments», en M. J. Ball, N. Müller y E. Spencer (eds.), The Handbook of Clinical Linguistics, 2.ª ed., Nueva Jersey, John Willey & Sons, pp. 589-603. DOI: http://doi.org.10.1002/9781119875949.ch40
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Linguistic Research

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The works published in this magazine are subject to the following terms:
1. The Publications Service of the University of Murcia (the publisher) preserves the economic rights (copyright) of the published works, and favors and allows the reuse of same under the license of use indicated in point 2.
2. The papers are published in the electronic edition of the magazine under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivative 3.0 Spain license (legal text). Papers may be copied, used, disseminated, transmitted and publicly exhibited if the following requirements are met: i) The authorship and the original source of its publication (magazine, editorial and URL of the work) must be cited; ii) The works cannot be used for commercial purposes; iii) The existence and specifications of this user license must be explicitly mentioned.
3. Self-archiving conditions. Authors can electronically disseminate pre-print versions (version before being evaluated) and / or post-print versions (version evaluated and accepted for publication). This makes possible its circulation and diffusion earlier and with it a possible increase in its citation and reach among the academic community. RoMEO color: green.


