ABSTRACT
Clinical and experimental evidence speaks to a number of cognitive neuropsychological issues: (a) the interdependence of language and thought, (b) the distinction between lexical meaning and concept, (c) the notion of a critical period for the acquisition of a second language, (d) the role of implicit acquisition versus explicit learning, and (e) the localization and lateralization of language functions, including the form of representation of each language in the brain of a bilingual speaker. Much of the literature on the neuropsychology of bilingualism has centered on attempts at interpreting the recovery patterns of aphasic patients' languages and the reasons why a patient would not recover both languages to the same extent, but, rather, one much better than the other, one long before the other, one better than the other for alternating periods of time, one not at all, or both inextricably mixed (Albert & Obler, 1978; Paradis, 1977, 1983, 1989, 1993a).
