Neuro-Glottometry: Mapping the Neural Correlates of Code-Switching Fluency as a Function of Socioeconomic Network Density

Abstract

This study introduces an interdisciplinary measurement framework called neuro-glottometry to investigate how the neural efficiency of code-switching is associated with the socioeconomic structure of a speaker's personal social network. Sociolinguistic research has extensively documented the social motivations of code-switching (Myers Scotton, 1993; Auer, 1998), and neurolinguistics has begun to measure its cognitive cost (Abutalebi & Green, 2008). However, the two fields have yet to integrate neural data with fine grained sociometric analysis. We bridge this gap by correlating functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy data, which indexes cognitive load in the prefrontal cortex, with detailed ego network surveys and naturalistic language samples from 48 proficient French English bilinguals in Cameroon. Our results show that individuals who occupy brokerage positions in sparse and socioeconomically diverse networks exhibit lower cognitive load during code-switching tasks across different contexts. In contrast, individuals embedded in dense and homogeneous networks show higher neural efficiency only in familiar, in-group switching contexts. They show marked increases in cognitive load during out group or novel pragmatic switches. These findings support the theory that code‑switching fluency is not merely a linguistic or pragmatic skill but a neurocognitive adaptation associated with the demands of one's social ecosystem (Green & Abutalebi, 2013). This research offers a preliminary empirical approach for the biocultural study of multilingualism in conflict affected settings.