IIT Guwahati Study Emphasizes the Power of Bilingualism in Culturally Diverse Communities

IIT Guwahati in a new study revealed that speaking more than one language is advantageous in multilingual and multicultural communities, particularly in North East India with its unique linguistic and cultural diversity. Check details here 

The collaborative research between IIT Guwahati's Centre for Linguistic Science and Technology and Department of Humanities and Social Sciences delved into 'Bilingual Language Processing in Multilingual and Multicultural Communities of Northeast India.' Their findings highlighted the advantages of bilingualism within such diverse settings, specifically highlighting its significance in North East India, celebrated for its distinct linguistic and cultural diversity. 

The research findings highlighted the advantageous aspects of being proficient in multiple languages, particularly emphasizing the increased benefits when individuals habitually transition between these languages in their communication.

The study predominantly centered around various Naga language-speaking communities, specifically bilingual individuals whose first language belonged to the Naga linguistic group, as expressed by Dr Bidisha Som, an Associate Professor in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences. A total of eighty Ao-Sangtam and eighty Ao-English individuals actively participated in this research endeavor. 

Ao-Sangtam

The participants from the Ao-Sangtam group, originating from Nagaland, have resided within a culturally and linguistically diverse environment for an extensive duration, as noted by Opangienla Kechu, a faculty member at Dimapur's Testo College and a part of the research team. In contrast, the Ao-English participants, who also hail from Nagaland, are university students pursuing studies across different regions of India where English serves as the predominant language.

The research team is currently looking at this issue from multiple perspectives and is involved in studying many other bilingual groups. 'We would like to stress the fact that northeast India is unique in its linguistic and cultural diversity. We have made a beginning towards understanding this interaction between language-use and non-linguistic cognition and this region has so much to teach us”, Dr Bidisha Som said. 

The concept of bilingual advantage denotes the heightened performance observed in bilingual individuals compared to their monolingual counterparts, specifically in non-verbal tasks. These tasks necessitate diverse cognitive control processes, including conflict resolution, attention management, task-switching, information updating, and utilization of working memory.

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