Bilingualism may be driven by a single neurological 'grammar engine'

Article excerpt

Bilingual speakers often mix grammar rules between languages, saying "I have 20 years" instead of "I am 20" when asked their age in English, for instance. New research suggests this happens because the brain may use a single neurological "grammar engine" to process both languages simultaneously, rather than keeping them in separate compartments. The finding challenges the long-held assumption that bilingual brains compartmentalize their languages and could reshape how scientists understand language processing in multilingual people.