Summary

Linguistic impairments in schizophrenia (SZ) cover the range of domains from phonology to pragmatics and discourse and across all domains of psychotic symptoms. This chapter reviews studies on neurobiological underpinnings of SZ and bilingualism (BL) in order to provide a neurological basis for the comparison. It provides a detailed description of linguistic characteristics of SZ and BL in an attempt to isolate language phenomena which characterize individuals with SZ on the one hand and bilingual individuals on the other. The chapter examines the limited data suggesting potential effects of bilingualism on SZ. It offers an approach which attempts to integrate linguistic and cognitive aspects of 'bilingual schizophrenia', since certain cognitive-based features are directly related to language (e.g. executive functions) in SZ and BL. The chapter concludes with recommendations for a more integrated effort to directly address the interface of SZ and BL.

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