The Effects of Cross-Language Activation on Bilingual Lexical Disambiguation

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ana I. Schwartz ◽  
Li-Hao Yeh
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Disambiguation ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Cross Language

Working memory influences on cross-language activation during bilingual lexical disambiguation

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 360-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANA B. ARÊAS DA LUZ FONTES ◽  
ANA I. SCHWARTZ
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Semantic Representation ◽  
Verbal Working Memory ◽  
Control Word ◽  
Error Rates ◽  
Lexical Disambiguation ◽  
Subordinate Meaning ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Cross Language

This study investigated the role of verbal working memory on bilingual lexical disambiguation. Spanish–English bilinguals read sentences that ended in either a cognate or noncognate homonym or a control word. Participants decided whether follow-up target words were related in meaning to the sentences. On critical trials, sentences biased the subordinate meaning of a homonym and were followed by targets related to the dominant meaning. Bilinguals with high span were faster at rejecting unrelated targets when the sentences ended in a homonym, whereas bilinguals with low span were slower. Furthermore, error rates for bilinguals with low span showed cognate inhibition, while bilinguals with high span showed no effects of cross-language activation. Results demonstrated that bilinguals with high span benefit from shared lexical codes whether these converge on to a single semantic representation (cognates) or not (homonyms). Conversely, bilinguals with low span showed inhibition from the competing lexical codes, even when they converge onto a single semantic representation.

Modulating Cross-Language Activation in Spoken Production: Evidence From Primed Picture Naming

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zofia Wodniecka ◽  
Susan Bobb ◽  
Judith F. Kroll ◽  
David W. Green
Keyword(s):  
Picture Naming ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Cross Language

The processing of derivational morphology in Korean–English bilingual readers

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
SAY YOUNG KIM ◽  
MIN WANG ◽  
IN YEONG KO
Keyword(s):  
Lexical Decision ◽  
Priming Effect ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Unrelated Word ◽  
Derivational Morphology ◽  
English Bilingual ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Complex Words ◽  
Bilingual Readers ◽  
Cross Language

Three experiments using a priming lexical decision paradigm were conducted to examine whether cross-language activation occurs via decomposition during the processing of derived words in Korean–English bilingual readers. In Experiment 1, when participants were given a real derived word and an interpretable derived pseudoword (i.e., illegal combination of a stem and a suffix) in Korean as a prime, response times for the corresponding English-translated stem were significantly faster than when they had received an unrelated word. In Experiment 2, non-morphological ending pseudowords (i.e., illegal combination of a stem and an orthographic ending) were included, and this did not show a priming effect. In Experiment 3, non-interpretable derived pseudowords also yielded a significant priming effect just as the interpretable ones. These results together suggest that cross-language activation of morphologically complex words occurs independently of lexicality and interpretability.

Language bias and proficiency effects on cross-language activation

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 873-901
Author(s):  
María Teresa Martínez García
Keyword(s):  
Language Bias ◽  
Reverse Pattern ◽  
English Second Language ◽  
Linguistic Interference ◽  
Bunk Bed ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Final Syllable ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Syllable Stress ◽  
Bias Condition

Abstract Recent research proposes that language bias and proficiency modulate cross-language activation in comprehension and production, but it is unclear how they operate and whether they interact. This study investigates whether stress differences between Spanish-English cognates (material, final-syllable stress in Spanish) affect how native-English second-language-Spanish bilinguals recognize Spanish words (materia “subject/matter,” second-syllable stress in Spanish). In a Spanish-English eye-tracking experiment (and parallel production task), participants heard/produced trisyllabic Spanish targets with second-syllable stress (materia) and saw four orthographic words, including the target and a Spanish-English cognate competitor. Cross-language activation was examined by manipulating the stress of the cognate in English. In comprehension, English cognates with the same stress as the Spanish target (materia vs material) were predicted to cause more cross-language interference than English cognates with a different stress (litera “bunk bed,” vs literal), but the reverse pattern was expected in production. Participants were assigned to a Spanish-bias condition (20% of English (filler) items), or an English-bias condition (65% of English (filler) items). Results indicate that English cognates with the same stress as the Spanish target interfered with the recognition of the Spanish target only in the English-bias condition (but facilitated its production), while increasing Spanish proficiency helped reduce this cross-linguistic interference.

scholarly journals The time course of cross-language activation in deaf ASL–English bilinguals

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
JILL P. MORFORD ◽  
CORRINE OCCHINO-KEHOE ◽  
PILAR PIÑAR ◽  
ERIN WILKINSON ◽  
JUDITH F. KROLL
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Semantic Similarity ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Lexical Processing ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
Rule Out

What is the time course of cross-language activation in deaf sign–print bilinguals? Prior studies demonstrating cross-language activation in deaf bilinguals used paradigms that would allow strategic or conscious translation. This study investigates whether cross-language activation can be eliminated by reducing the time available for lexical processing. Deaf ASL–English bilinguals and hearing English monolinguals viewed pairs of English words and judged their semantic similarity. Half of the stimuli had phonologically related translations in ASL, but participants saw only English words. We replicated prior findings of cross-language activation despite the introduction of a much faster rate of presentation. Further, the deaf bilinguals were as fast or faster than hearing monolinguals despite the fact that the task was in their second language. The results allow us to rule out the possibility that deaf ASL–English bilinguals only activate ASL phonological forms when given ample time for strategic or conscious translation across their two languages.

scholarly journals Cross-Language Activation Begins During Speech Planning and Extends Into Second Language Speech

2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 324-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
April Jacobs ◽  
Melinda Fricke ◽  
Judith F. Kroll
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Speech Planning ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Cross Language

Lexical entrenchment and cross-language activation: Two sides of the same coin for bilingual reading across the adult lifespan

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
VERONICA WHITFORD ◽  
DEBRA TITONE
Keyword(s):  
Word Frequency ◽  
Word Processing ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Neighborhood Density ◽  
Target Language ◽  
Frequency Effects ◽  
Adult Lifespan ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Cross Language

We used eye movement measures of paragraph reading to examine whether two consequences of bilingualism, namely, reduced lexical entrenchment (i.e., reduced lexical quality and accessibility arising from less absolute language experience) and cross-language activation (i.e., simultaneous co-activation of target- and non-target-language lexical representations) interact during word processing in bilingual younger and older adults. Specifically, we focused on the interaction between word frequency (a predictor of lexical entrenchment) and cross-language neighborhood density (a predictor of cross-language activation) during first- and second-language reading. Across both languages and both age groups, greater cross-language (and within-language) neighborhood density facilitated word processing, indexed by smaller word frequency effects. Moreover, word frequency effects and, to a lesser extent, cross-language neighborhood density effects were larger in older versus younger adults, potentially reflecting age-related changes in lexical accessibility and cognitive control. Thus, lexical entrenchment and cross-language activation multiplicatively influence bilingual word processing across the adult lifespan.

scholarly journals Psycholinguistic, cognitive, and neural implications of bimodal bilingualism

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
KAREN EMMOREY ◽  
MARCEL R. GIEZEN ◽  
TAMAR H. GOLLAN
Keyword(s):  
Control Process ◽  
Spoken Language ◽  
Unique Form ◽  
Motor Systems ◽  
Lexical Information ◽  
Semantic Level ◽  
Lexical Representations ◽  
Language Activation ◽  
Cross Language ◽  
The Brain

Bimodal bilinguals, fluent in a signed and a spoken language, exhibit a unique form of bilingualism because their two languages access distinct sensory-motor systems for comprehension and production. Differences between unimodal and bimodal bilinguals have implications for how the brain is organized to control, process, and represent two languages. Evidence from code-blending (simultaneous production of a word and a sign) indicates that the production system can access two lexical representations without cost, and the comprehension system must be able to simultaneously integrate lexical information from two languages. Further, evidence of cross-language activation in bimodal bilinguals indicates the necessity of links between languages at the lexical or semantic level. Finally, the bimodal bilingual brain differs from the unimodal bilingual brain with respect to the degree and extent of neural overlap for the two languages, with less overlap for bimodal bilinguals.

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