Lexical Retrieval in Typical Hindi-English Bilingual Children

Tanya Singh — 2026-06-08

Bilingualism cannot be understood as a simple additive system in which two languages function independently; rather, it is a dynamic interaction where both languages remain active and continuously influence each other. The present study examined lexical retrieval in Hindi–English bilingual children aged 8 to 12 years, a group that has received relatively limited attention even though bilingual exposure is common in urban India. A total of 60 typically developing children, divided equally into two age groups: 8–10 years and 10–12 years participated in the study. Each participant completed a picture-naming task in four conditions: Blocked English (BE), Blocked Hindi (BH), Mixed English–Hindi (MEH), and Mixed Hindi–English (MHE). To account for the participants' distinct developmental levels, grade-stratified stimulus sets were used, and performance variations were analysed using a Two-Factor Mixed ANOVA framework. Performance in the Blocked English condition did not differ across the two age groups (p = .939), suggesting that single-language English retrieval mechanisms optimise early and successfully scale alongside advancing, age-appropriate vocabulary demands. In contrast, the Hindi and mixed-language conditions revealed significant age-related differences (p < .001), as older children demonstrated greater accuracy on their age-adjusted item sets. The most pronounced developmental gain emerged in the Mixed English–Hindi condition, indicating the specific cognitive load that sequential language switching places on developing dual-language control systems. Overall, these findings indicate that bilingual children’s vocabulary performance reflects changing patterns of dual-language control across different task contexts, rather than a consistent, linear developmental trajectory. By focusing on an underrepresented population, the study contributes to the current understanding of bilingual lexical processing and offers preliminary observations for culturally relevant clinical and educational contexts.

Kokborok Language Movement: A Resistance to Linguistic Imperialism and Cultural Hegemony in Tripura

Sudeshna Debbarma — 2026-05-02

The Kokborok language movement in Tripura is marked by an effort to protect, promote, and preserve the identity of the language and the Boroks. The Kokborok language movement was largely a response to the marginalisation and stigmatisation of the language in the field of administration, education, political, social spheres etc. The main objectives of the Kokborok language movement were to gain recognition, official status and to introduce in the educational institutions. The marginalisation and stigmatisation of the language and its speakers began with the demographic, political and linguistic shifts from the Kokborok majority speakers in the pre integration period to the Bengali majority speakers following Tripura’s integration to the Indian Union in 1949. The marginalisation and exclusion of the Kokborok language coupled with stigmatisation as a minority language, limited to household spheres resulted into Kokborok language movements. At present Kokborok is one of the official languages along with Bengali but is developing at snail's pace. The movement for Kokborok has been continuous but with the momentum gaining and losing at different points of time. Language development has been hindered by various factors including linguistic imperialism, stigmatisation of Kokborok and other minority languages, politicisation over script etc.

Indian Journal of Language and Linguistics

Lexical Retrieval in Typical Hindi-English Bilingual Children

Kokborok Language Movement: A Resistance to Linguistic Imperialism and Cultural Hegemony in Tripura