An Embodied Cognition Approach to L2 Action Verb Comprehension: Effects of Dynamic Bilingual Experience

The present study aims to investigate the embodiment of action verbs in L2 (English) following the diverse aspects of bilingual experience. Despite many studies on embodiment in L1, very few studies have aimed for such grounding in L2. It is further an attempt to measure the embodiment in L2 (English) in comparison with L1 (Urdu) to determine the factors which can be helpful for embodiment in L2. For this purpose, the study used an experimental design where fifty bilingual university students participated in two effector based experiments, designed in PsychoPy software. Reaction times (RTs) with language (L1 vs L2), language experience as fixed effects, and participant variability as random effects were analyzed through Linear Mixed Effects (LME) models. ImerTest R package was used for the analysis. The participants with stronger L2 exposure showed more obvious embodiment than those who had lesser exposure to L2. This study significantly advances our comprehension of embodied cognition in the second language especially in South Asian context and sheds light on how varied dimensions of L2 experiences profoundly affect embodiment processes. Furthermore, the current study opens ways for researches in embodiment on syntactic level and beyond to explore the area of embodiment in L2.