Is the Resolution of Ambiguous Pronouns Influenced By Code-Switching and Sociolinguistic Context? Insights from Italian-English bilinguals

Aims and objectives: Ambiguous pronoun resolution has been amply investigated by previous literature on bilingual language processing. However, factors related to the sociolinguistic environment of bilingual communities and sociopragmatic cues in bilingual communication remain almost unexplored. This study examines whether different sociolinguistic contexts influence bilinguals’ ambiguous pronoun resolution and whether code-switching modulates referent selection. Methodology: A total of 92 Italian-English bilingual speakers residing either in Italy or in an anglophone country participated in the study. Despite having comparable linguistic background in terms of high proficiency in their L2 (English) and sharing the same native language (Italian), they belonged to different sociolinguistic environments and were immersed in different communicative contexts. Both groups did the same auditory sentence comprehension tasks, where stimuli were either in Italian only or with English-to-Italian code-switching and presented either a null or an overt ambiguous pronoun. Data and analysis: While both groups tended to refer null ambiguous pronouns to subject referents and overt pronouns to object referents, this tendency was significantly more pronounced for bilinguals residing in Italy. No effect of code-switching on referent selection for ambiguous pronouns was found in any group. Conclusions: These findings suggest that ambiguous pronoun resolution is modulated by the sociolinguistic environment of bilingual speakers, with patterns of language attrition emerging for bilinguals immersed in contexts where their native language is a minority language. Originality: We explored the sociolinguistic dimension of bilingualism on language processing. Furthermore, we tested the potential effect of code-switching as a sociopragmatic cue during the processing of syntax-pragmatic interface phenomena, introduced as a controlled variable in our experimental design. Implications: The results emphasize the importance of considering bilingualism as a multifaceted experience rather than a binary condition in the context of language processing, as bilinguals speaking the same languages with similar L2 proficiency can still differ due to different sociolinguistic environments.