Cross-Language Influences in the Processing of Multiword Expressions: From a First Language to Second and Back

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Lingli Du¹  Irina Elgort²  Anna Siyanova-Chanturia² 

[1] School of Foreign Languages, Henan University of Technology;School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington;College of Foreign Languages, Ocean University of China

关键词: multiword expressions;    binomials;    cross-language influence;    congruency;    frequency;    English;    Chinese;    priming;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2021.666520

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

The present study investigated cross-language influences in the processing of binomial expressions ( knife and fork ), from a first language (L1) to a second language (L2) and from L2 to L1. Two groups of unbalanced bilinguals (Chinese/L1-English/L2 and English/L1-Chinese/L2) and a control group of English monolinguals performed a visual lexical decision task that incorporated unmasked priming. To assess cross-language influences, we used three types of expressions: congruent binomials (English binomials that have translation equivalents in Chinese), English-only binomials, and Chinese-only binomials translated into English. Lexical decision latencies to the last word ( fork ) in a binomial ( knife and fork ) were compared with response latencies to the same word in a matched control phrase ( spoon and fork ). We found that (1) Chinese-English bilinguals showed a significant priming effect for congruent binomials but no facilitation for English-only binomials, (2) English–Chinese bilinguals showed a trend toward priming for congruent binomials, which did not reach statistical significance, and no priming for English-only binomials, (3) English monolinguals showed comparable priming for congruent and English-only binomials. With respect to the Chinese-only binomials, none of the three participant groups showed priming for translated Chinese-only binomials over controls. These findings suggest that L1 influences the processing of L2 binomials, and that there may be some cross-linguistic influence in the opposite direction, i.e., from L2 to L1, although to a lesser extent.

【 授权许可】

CC BY