Identifying the boundary between dialects and languages: The role of similarity and usage

TY - JOUR

T1 - Identifying the boundary between dialects and languages

T2 - The role of similarity and usage

AU - Melinger, Alissa

N1 - Copyright: © 2025 The Author.

PY - 2026/4

Y1 - 2026/4

N2 - The question of how to distinguish between dialects and languages has plagued linguists for decades. The present investigation uses behavioral observations to objectively distinguish between bilingual and bidialectal translation effects. Using the picture-word interference paradigm, Italian – Neapolitan (Exp 1) bidialectal participants named pictures while ignoring semantically identical, related, or unrelated distractor words presented in their two linguistic varieties. Consistent with prior investigations of dialectal lexical selection studies, we observed translation equivalent interference between dialectal varieties that were mutually non-intelligible and in participants who were active, proficient speakers of both varieties. Experiment 2 assessed the distractor effects in Italian-English bilingual speakers and did not observe similar translation equivalent inference effects. The results suggest that mutual intelligibility and high speaker proficiency are not necessary and sufficient conditions for establishing independent lexical systems.

AB - The question of how to distinguish between dialects and languages has plagued linguists for decades. The present investigation uses behavioral observations to objectively distinguish between bilingual and bidialectal translation effects. Using the picture-word interference paradigm, Italian – Neapolitan (Exp 1) bidialectal participants named pictures while ignoring semantically identical, related, or unrelated distractor words presented in their two linguistic varieties. Consistent with prior investigations of dialectal lexical selection studies, we observed translation equivalent interference between dialectal varieties that were mutually non-intelligible and in participants who were active, proficient speakers of both varieties. Experiment 2 assessed the distractor effects in Italian-English bilingual speakers and did not observe similar translation equivalent inference effects. The results suggest that mutual intelligibility and high speaker proficiency are not necessary and sufficient conditions for establishing independent lexical systems.

KW - Dialects

KW - Bidialectalism

KW - Bilingualism

KW - Lexical selection

KW - Picture-word interference

KW - Lexical organization

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105024676142

U2 - 10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106388

DO - 10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106388

M3 - Article

C2 - 41401575

SN - 0010-0277

VL - 269

JO - Cognition

JF - Cognition

M1 - 106388

ER -