Linguistic Phenomena and Language Selection in the REM Dreams of German‐English Bilinguals
David Foulkes, Barbara Meier, Inge Strauch, Nancy H. Kerr, Laura Bradley, Michael Hollifield
International Journal of Psychology December 1, 1993 DOI: 10.1080/00207599308246969 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Observational study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 16 |
| Population | German-English bilinguals: native English speakers living in Zürich and native German speakers living in Atlanta |
| Duration | Four nonconsecutive nights per participant |
| Citations | 10 |
| Key findings | The language spoken during laboratory sessions directly influenced language selection in participants' dreams. Judged appropriateness of language choice to imagined events was very high for presleep thought samples and high for REM dreams. Waking appropriateness to imagined situations was more strongly related to language selection than was the language reference of the supposed sources of those situations. |
Abstract
Sixteen German‐English bilinguals were studied in a sleep laboratory for four nonconsecutive nights each. Half were native English speakers living in Zürich, and half native German speakers living in Atlanta. Presleep thought samples were solicited each evening and REM dream reports each night; subjects judged the waking appropriateness of their imagined speech and language phenomena, and also identified waking sources of their dream imagery, the following mornings. Incidences of dreaming and of speech therein generally were similar to those of monolinguals. Whether sessions were conducted in German (two nights) or English (two nights) did directly influence language selection in subjects' dreams. Judged appropriateness of language selection to imagined events was very high for thought samples, and high for REM dreams. Sources for thought samples were generally consonant with the language dominant at study site; for REM dreams this relationship was considerably weaker. Judged waking appropriateness to imagined situations was more strongly related to language selection than was the language reference of the supposed sources of those situations.