This thesis attempts to determine whether adults who were raised with simultaneous bilingualism and live in a monolingual country still know two languages in a native-like manner, even if one of...Show moreThis thesis attempts to determine whether adults who were raised with simultaneous bilingualism and live in a monolingual country still know two languages in a native-like manner, even if one of the two has become more dominant in daily life. Twenty simultaneous bilinguals were asked to carry out a picture-naming task. For this test, the bilinguals had to name objects in Dutch and English and the time it took them to switch between languages was measured. In general, an L1 is suppressed more severely than an L2 when the other language is spoken, and it therefore takes more time to switch from an L2 to an L1 than vice versa. The participants did not take significantly longer to switch from one language to the other than vice versa, suggesting that simultaneous bilinguals are capable of retrieving both of their languages in a native-like manner even if they live in a monolingual environment.Show less
