Effects of language bias and proficiency on cross-language activation: Evidence from eye-tracking

2016 ◽  
Vol 140 (4) ◽  
pp. 3341-3341
Author(s):  
Maria Teresa Martinez-Garcia ◽  
Annie Tremblay
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 873-901
Author(s):  
María Teresa Martínez García

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naomi Vingron ◽  
Pauline Palma ◽  
Jason W. Gullifer ◽  
Veronica Whitford ◽  
Deanna Friesen ◽  
...  

Bilinguals juggle knowledge of multiple languages, including syntactic constructions that can mismatch (e.g., the red car, la voiture rouge; Mary sees it, Mary le voit). We used eye-tracking to examine whether French-English (n = 23) and English-French (n = 21) bilingual adults activate non-target language syntax during English L2 (Experiment 1) and L1 (Experiment 2) reading, and whether this differed from functionally monolingual English reading (Experiment 3, n = 26). People read English sentences containing syntactic constructions that were either partially shared across languages (adjective-noun constructions) or completely unshared (object-pronoun constructions). These constructions were presented in an intact form, or in a violated form that was French-consistent or French-inconsistent. For both L2 and L1 reading, bilinguals read French-consistent adjective-noun violations relatively quickly, suggesting cross-language activation. This did not occur when the same people read object-pronoun constructions manipulated in the same manner. Surprisingly, English readers exposed to French in their lifetime but functionally monolingual, also read French-consistent violations for adjective-noun constructions faster, particularly for some items. However, when we controlled for item differences in the L2 and L1 reading data, cross-language effects observed were similar to the original data pattern. Moreover, individual differences in L2 experience modulated both L2 and L1 reading for adjective-noun constructions, consistent with a cross-language activation interpretation of the data. These findings are consistent with the idea of syntactic cross-language activation during reading for some constructions. However, for several reasons, cross-language syntactic activation during comprehension may be overall more variable and challenging to investigate methodologically compared to past work on other forms of cross-language activation (i.e., single words).


2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zofia Wodniecka ◽  
Susan Bobb ◽  
Judith F. Kroll ◽  
David W. Green

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
SAY YOUNG KIM ◽  
MIN WANG ◽  
IN YEONG KO

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.


2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
JILL P. MORFORD ◽  
CORRINE OCCHINO-KEHOE ◽  
PILAR PIÑAR ◽  
ERIN WILKINSON ◽  
JUDITH F. KROLL

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.


2015 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 324-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
April Jacobs ◽  
Melinda Fricke ◽  
Judith F. Kroll

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