Does the Complementarity Principle apply to inner speech? A mixed-methods study on multilingual Chinese university students in the UK

Abstract

This paper investigates how inner speech in English as a foreign language (LX) and Chinese first languages (L1s) of 425 multilingual Chinese university students in the UK is affected by their stay. An eight-item scale was developed to cover two different discourse domains for inner speech, namely the academic and the general domain. LX socialization was operationalized as frequency of English use in daily life, sociocultural adaptation, previous immersion, and length of stay. Factor analysis of the quantitative data combined with participants' reports show that English inner speech develops gradually in the academic domain and general domain, suggesting that the Complementarity Principle applies to inner speech as much as articulated speech (Grosjean, Bilingual: Life and reality. Harvard University Press, 2012). Frequency of academic English inner speech is linked to higher level of LX socialization, namely frequent use of English in daily life, a higher level of sociocultural adaptation, and having had previous immersion. However, sociocultural adaptation had no effect on the frequency of general English inner speech.

An Exploration of Multilinguals’ Voice-Hearing Experiences

“…P2 s Scottish Gaelic was acquired in a classroom context but heard coming from a voice reminiscent of a family member; P5 s home and family languages were spoken by voices associated with a workplace context. This differs from inner speech patterns: for example, students speaking English as an LX adopt academic inner speech more than general inner speech, reflecting the domain and context of acquisition (Leung & Dewaele, 2021).…”

“…Inner speech language use can be affected by: acquisition and use context, and network size (Dewaele, 2015;Guerrero, 2018); degree of L1-LX difference (Resnik, 2021); topic or function (Hammer, 2017;; and emotionality, with emotional LX inner speech taking longer to develop (Dewaele, 2015;Guerrero, 2018). Leung and Dewaele (2021) found that (2012) Complementarity Principle, according to which language preferences differ according to situations, interlocutors, and purposes, applies also to inner speech. Some studies, like Hadden et al (2020) controlled the language profiles of participants.…”