Guwahati, 15 December (MTNews): A recent study conducted by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati has shed light on the advantages of bilingualism, particularly in multilingual and multicultural communities, with a specific focus on Northeast India.
The study, titled “Bilingual Language Processing in Multilingual and Multicultural Communities of Northeast India,” was a collaborative effort between the Centre for Linguistic Science and Technology and the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Guwahati.
Dr Bidisha Som, a researcher and Assistant Professor at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Guwahati, highlighted the benefits of speaking more than one language and regularly switching between languages, especially in linguistically and culturally diverse regions like North East India.
According to PTI, the primary focus of the study was on different linguistic groups within the Ao Naga community, specifically bilinguals who had Naga languages as their first language. The research included eighty Ao-Sangtam and eighty Ao-English individuals.
Opangienla Kechu, a member of the research team and faculty at Dimapur’s Testo College, explained that Ao-Sangtam participants, originally from Nagaland, have been exposed to diverse cultural and linguistic settings for many years. On the other hand, Ao-English participants, also from Nagaland, are university students studying in various regions of India where English is the primary language.
The study revealed that bilingualism enhances cognitive abilities beyond language proficiency. Bilingual individuals also demonstrated enhanced performance in non-verbal tasks compared to monolinguals. These tasks required various cognitive control processes, including conflict resolution, attention, shifting, updating, and working memory.
Kechu emphasized that the research contributes to understanding the impact of bilingualism among indigenous languages, non-immigrant, non-WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) populations.
Dr Som shared that the study marks the beginning of exploring the interaction between language use and non-linguistic cognition in the unique linguistic and cultural diversity of northeast India. The research team is approaching this study from various perspectives and is involved in studying other bilingual groups.
