Interplay of morphological configuration and language switching in numerical processing and word processing.

The aim of the present study was to examine the interplay of morphological configuration switching and language switching. The morphological configuration is present in word-formation whenever a word contains more than one free morpheme. The morphological configuration is variable both within and between languages for example in two-digit number names (is the decade named first as in twenty-one or the unit named first as in seventeen) and in compound words (is the modifier or the head named first). In the present experiments, participants had to switch between morphological configurations and between languages (German, English, and Spanish). Language-switch cost was measured as the performance difference between language-switch trials and language-repetition trials. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants performed language-comprehension tasks on two-digit numbers and a language-production task on compound words in Experiment 3. All three experiments revealed an under-additive switch cost pattern in which a larger language-switch cost occurred in morphological configuration-repetition trials than in morphological configuration-switch trials. Thus, the present data indicate integration of the morphological configuration and language into one language-related schema-irrespective of the language task (comprehension vs. production) and the type of stimuli (number words vs. compound nouns). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Multilingual two-digit number naming: The influence of composition rules on language switching.

The aim of this study was to examine language switching in a two-digit number naming task. In contrast to single digits, two-digit numbers have a composition rule (i.e., morphological configuration) that may differ between languages. For example, the Arabic number 21 is read with an inverted composition rule in German (unit before decade) and a non-inverted composition rule in English (decade before unit). In the present experiment, one group of German native speakers and one group of Spanish native speakers had to name two-digit numbers in German, English, or Spanish. The results demonstrate a language-switch cost, revealing better performance in language repetition than in language-switch trials. This switch cost was further modulated by repeating or switching the composition rule, since the language repetition benefit (i.e., the switch cost) was reduced in trials with composition-rule switches compared with trials with composition-rule repetitions. This finding indicates that the language in which the number word has to be produced and its composition rule are not switched independently but rather may be integrated into one language schema.