Language dominance affects auditory translation priming in heritage speakers

Abstract

Late L2 learners show translation priming from the first language to the second (L1–L2), while L2–L1 effects are inconsistent (Altarriba & Basnight-Brown, 2007). Typically, late L2 learners are both less dominant in the L2 and have a later L2 age of acquisition, making the relative contribution of language dominance and age of acquisition in L2–L1 priming unclear. We test Cantonese heritage and native speakers in an auditory translation priming paradigm. As heritage speakers first learn Cantonese (L1) but later become more proficient in English (L2), this profile potentially allows for the dissociation of dominance and age of acquisition in translation priming. If age of acquisition is the primary factor, more priming is expected to occur in the L1–L2 (Cantonese-English) direction; however, if dominance plays a stronger role, priming is expected to occur in the L2–L1 (English-Cantonese) direction. Preliminary results indicate that native speakers show L1–L2 but not L2–L1 priming, consistent with previous findings, while heritage speakers show priming in both directions, but stronger L2–L1 priming. The inter-condition difference is greater for native speakers. In short, age of acquisition plays a role in bilingual language processing (Silverburg & Samuel, 2004) and potentially drives auditory translation priming effects more strongly than language dominance.