Abstract: Language-dependent effect is a new type of context-dependent memory, combines features with other types of dependent memory and has unique properties to language. Through this effect, people may get deep understanding of the relations between language and memory. In this research，two experiments were conducted to explore language-dependent effects in Mandarin and Cantonese.
Method :A total of 18 undergraduate students（8 males) in two universities of Guangzhou were randomly selected to take part in Experiment 1. Among them, three (2 males and 1 female) spoke Mandarin as a child, but switched to Cantonese when they were at an average age of 10.67. They speak fluent Cantonese at the time of the study. Fifteen students were native Cantonese speakers who came from the Pearl Delta region but can also speak Mandarin fluently. Experiment 1 adopted autobiographical memory paradigm. The experiment consisted of two independent variables，one was the ways of presentation（visual or auditory），the other was language environments of recall（Mandarin or Cantonese）. The dependent variable was the types and numbers of autobiographical memories. The types of autobiographical memories were divided into 3 types：⑴ agreeable memories：Mandarin memories appeared in Mandarin environments，whereas Cantonese memories appeared in Cantonese environments；⑵ disagreeable memories：Mandarin memories appeared in Cantonese environments，whereas Cantonese memories appeared in Mandarin environments；⑶ mixed memories：both Mandarin memories and Cantonese memories appeared in two environments. Twenty-three (23) undergraduate students（10 males and 13 females）from three universities in Guangzhou participated in experiment 2. These students spoke both Mandarin and Cantonese fluently. The materials used were 90 Chinese words：30 words were general Cantonese expressions，30 words were Cantonese dialect expressions，and 30 words were interfere items. Recognition paradigm were used. The words were presented by auditory. The recognition reaction time，the rate of alarms，the discrimination power to targets and interferes，the correct rates of remember，know or guess judgments were measured.
Results
The results of experiment 1 showed that there were significant language-dependent effects in autobiographical memories under the contexts of Mandarin and Cantonese. The subjects produced more memories which held the same languages with the retrieval contexts：more Mandarin memories appeared in Mandarin environments and more Cantonese memories appeared in Cantonese environments. No significant differences were found between the numbers of mixed memories appeared in two language environments. The results of experiment 1 also showed that there were more Cantonese memories than Mandarin memories even in Mandarin recall environments. The results of experiment 2 showed that the phonetic and the ways of expressions were important factors influencing the language-dependent effects. There were the shortest reaction time，lowest rate of false alarms and the most susceptible discrimination to words which expressed by Cantonese expressions.
Conclusions
⑴ The recalls of Mandarin-Cantonese diglossia subjects suggest that the effect is dependent on language environments. More agreeable memories emerged when the languages of the recall environments and the environments that the events took place were matched.
⑵ The phonetic and the ways of expressions were important factors that affected diglossia subjects’ language-dependent effects of recall. Shorter reaction time，lower alarm rate, and strong discrimination were found when Mandarin-Cantonese diglossia subjects recognized Cantonese diglossia expressions

Key words: Language-dependent effect, autobiographical memory, phonetic, expressions ways of language