hide
Free keywords:
Second language processing; Polysemy; Lexicalization;
Conceptual processing; Semantic processing; On-line reading
Abstract:
The present study investigates the influence of first language (L1)
lexicalization patterns on the processing of second language (L2)
words in sentential contexts by advanced German learners of English.
The focus was on cases where a polysemous word in the L1 is real-
ized by independent words in the L2, e.g. German
Blase
realized by
English
bubble
and
blister
. An anomaly detection task was used in
which participants had to indicate whether a target word formed an
acceptable completion to a sentence. The critical condition was
where the other sense (
blister
) of the translation equivalent
Blase
was appropriate, but the word (
bubble
) did not complete the sen-
tence meaningfully, e.g. ‘His shoes were uncomfortable due to a
bubble.’ This was compared to a control condition in which neither
sense of the L1 translation made sense, e.g. ‘She was very hungry
because of a bubble.’Factors of word type (noun vs. verb) and degree
of relatedness of L1 senses (high vs. moderate) were also manipu-
lated. Relative to native speakers of English, advanced German learn-
ers made more errors and displayed longer correct response times
in the critical condition compared to the control condition. An effect
of meaning relatedness was obtained for nouns but not verbs. The
results are discussed in terms of the role of lexical-level translation
connections in activating L1 concepts from L2 words, even in highly
proficient learners and in all-L2 tasks.
