A Quantitative Analysis of Inner Speech Between Monolingual and Bilingual Speakers

Inner speech is an individual’s silent, inner monologue; a growing amount of evidence indicates that inner speech is very common among both monolingual and multilingual speakers. Studies have shown that important cognitive functions are involved in inner speech pertaining to psychological development, however connections between inner speech and language acquisition/usage across speakers have been less of a focus. This study investigates the frequency and degree to which inner speech is used between monolingual English speakers and early-onset bilingual English/Spanish speakers by using a survey called the Revised-Varieties of Inner Speech Questionnaire (VISQ-R) by Alderson-Day et al. (2018). The aim of the study is to report general inner speech use, compare relative frequencies of inner speech, and determine whether and how the features examined within the VISQ-R differ between Spanish-speaking bilinguals and English-speaking monolinguals