EXPLORING THE INFLUENCE OF BILINGUALISM ON WORKING MEMORY: A COGNITIVE LINGUISTIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

The current research presents a cognitive exploration of the issue of bilingualism and its influence on working memory in terms of cognitive linguistic. With the help of the interdisciplinary background, the study examines the way bilingual people process linguistic information in two languages and how the dual-language processing affects the working memory capacity, the flexibility, and the executive control. Based on a qualitative design, the research examines verbal activities of bilinguals, their code-switching and semantic recall modes. The results show that bilingual people exhibit better working memory abilities on the task which involves need of attentional control, inhibition and mental flexibility. These cognitive benefits can be described by the fact that the language systems are always in negotiation with each other, which promotes metalinguistic awareness and cognitive resilience. The paper has a contribution to cognitive linguistics because it does not simply view bilingualism as a skill of communication but as a cognitive construct shaping the memory structure and executive functions.