Bilingual Word Production

This chapter reviews studies that investigated the functional and neuroanatomical representations of first language (L1) and second language (L2) during single‐word production in healthy bilingual speakers. It emphasizes three related aspects: are the languages of bilinguals underpinned by common or distinct brain regions during production?; what are the neurophysiological signatures of timing aspects of bilingual word production?; and to what extent are potential dissociations modulated by moderating factors such as age of acquisition, proficiency, and immersion of the L2? Findings from positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have provided ample evidence that word production in L1 and L2 is largely subserved by the same neural structures both in single‐ and mixed‐language contexts. The chapter provides an overview of how age of acquisition, proficiency, and immersion may modulate bilingual word production in behavioural, electrophysiological, and hemodynamic measures.