Abstract
Recently, considerable attention has been given to the effect of the age of acquisition (AoA) on learning a second language (L2); however, the scarcity of L2 AoA ratings has limited advancements in this field. We presented the ratings of L2 AoA in late, unbalanced Chinese-English bilingual speakers and collected the familiarity of the L2 and the corresponding Chinese translations of English words. In addition, to promote the cross-language comparison and motivate the AoA research on Chinese two-character words, data on AoA, familiarity, and concreteness of the first language (L1) were also collected from Chinese native speakers. We first reported the reliability of each rated variable. Then, we described the validity by the following three steps: the distributions of each rated variable were described, the correlations between these variables were calculated, and regression analyses were run. The results showed that AoA, familiarity, and concreteness were all significant predictors of lexical decision times. The word database can be used by researchers who are interested in AoA, familiarity, and concreteness in both the L1 and L2 of late, unbalanced Chinese-English bilingual speakers. The full database is freely available for research purposes.
Highlights
The age of acquisition (AoA) refers to the age at which a word is acquired and is considered to be the fifth most important factor affecting lexical decision times, following word frequency, word length, similarity to other words, and word onset (Kuperman et al, 2012)
81 words (4% of all words) were removed because of a lower recognition rate, which led to 1835 words that had reliable L2 AoA values
The L2 AoA accounts for an extra 12% of the variance after word length and concreteness are controlled for. These results showed that the response times are shorter if the word is acquired earlier and that L2 AoA is the influential predictor of lexical decision times
Summary
The age of acquisition (AoA) refers to the age at which a word is acquired and is considered to be the fifth most important factor affecting lexical decision times, following word frequency, word length, similarity to other words, and word onset (Kuperman et al, 2012). Words learned early in life are processed faster than words learned late in life. This AoA effect has been studied for more than 60 years and has been explored in different populations and experimental tasks, its origin in language processing is still under debate. According to the Semantic Hypothesis, AoA reflects an intrinsic property of words’ semantic representations: words acquired early contain richer semantic connections and occupy a central position in the semantic network; they are easier to access than words acquired later (van Loon-Vervoorn, 1989; Brysbaert et al, 2000). If the first language (L1) and second language (L2) words share the same semantics, the L2 words should inherit the AoA characteristics of the corresponding L1 words; that is, the AoA effect in L2 reflects the order of the word meaning acquisition in L1 (Izura and Ellis, 2002). The L1 AoA effect can be observed, and no independent L2 AoA effect exists
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
