Activation of Lemmas in the Multilingual Mental Lexicon and Transfer in Third Language Learning

Abstract

This chapter describes the composite elements of the multilingual mental lexicon and explores the nature and sources of transfer in third language learning. Unlike most previous studies of language transfer which identified learner errors by focusing on surface configurations of learner language, this study explains causes of learner errors by describing how language-specific lemmas in the multilingual mental lexicon are activated in language learning and speech production processes. To do so, it adopts some current psycholinguistic models of language acquisition. Multilingual transfer in third language learning is identified and described at several levels of information processing and speech production processes. This study focuses on the nature of lemmas in the multilingual mental lexicon and how they are activated in third language production. In so doing, sources of learner errors are traced to the composite nature of the multilingual mental lexicon and causes of transfer are explained in terms of constraints on third language development, learning strategies and processes. The third language data under this study came from two adult native speakers of Chinese. One has acquired native-like Japanese proficiency as a second language and is learning English as a third language, and the other has acquired native-like English proficiency as a second language and is learning Japanese as a third language. Based on evidence for certain specifications about the multilingual mental lexicon, this chapter presents a model of multilingual lemma activation in third language production.