This paper presents the experimental study of cerebral hemispheric engagement in auditory recognition of words depending on a set of linguistic factors. Words were native and foreign to the subjects. Listeners were normal right-handed adults with symmetrical hearing, native speakers of Russian; English was acquired as a second language at school. The stimuli were linguistically balanced lists of natural Russian and English words presented monaurally, white noise being contralateral masking. The data show strong overall left hemispheric advantage. The most significant factor for both hemispheres appeared to be 'frequency of usage' (contrary to 'word length'- characterizing the perception of native words). The second important factor was 'consonant ratio' for the RH and 'word length' for the LH.'Part of speech' was shown to be of minimal importance for both the hemispheres, 'stress position' -slightly more significant.