Revised Hierarchical Model Research Articles

Context Matters: How Experimental Language and Language Environment Affect Mental Representations in Multilingualism

The Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM) proposed by Kroll and Stewart has been one of the most influential models of late multilingual language processing. While the model has provided valuable insights into language processing mechanisms, the role of contextual factors for the RHM has not been investigated to date. Such contextual effects could be manifold, including individual speakers’ language profiles (such as age of acquisition, proficiency, and immersion experiences), experimental factors (such as different instruction languages), and environmental factors (such as societal language(s)). Additionally, it also appears promising to investigate the applicability of the RHM to non-native multilingual speakers from diverse backgrounds. To investigate whether some of the mentioned contextual factors affect non-native language processing, we designed three online experiments requiring answers in German and English, but tested speakers whose first language was neither German nor English. They performed a series of translation, picture-naming, and recall tasks based on Kroll and Stewart, as well as providing detailed information on their proficiencies, profiles of language use, and exposure. Experiment 1, conducted with speakers living in Germany, established the paradigm and investigated the role of individual differences in linguistic background. While Experiment 2 focused on the short-term effects of the experimental context by varying whether instructions were provided in German or in English, Experiment 3 examined the longer-term role of the current language environment by comparing individuals living in German-speaking countries with speakers living in societies where neither experimental language is spoken regularly. As in Kroll and Stewart, both the response language and the list type constituted key variables affecting response times and accuracy, known as language asymmetry and category interference. Importantly, the strength of this asymmetry was affected by participants’ immersion experiences, suggesting a certain dynamic development in multilingual language processing. In addition, context also seemed to play a role for experimental performance, especially the language environment examined in Experiment 3. Hence, speakers’ individual linguistic backgrounds and experience with the experimental languages, as well as additional contextual factors, need to be considered when conducting multilingual experiments and drawing conclusions about multilinguistic processing.

Developing Chinese lexical representations in Korean learner’s mind

Aims and objectives/purpose/research questions: The present research explores whether Korean learners of Chinese at different proficiency levels employ distinct processing strategies when processing Chinese words with identical or different orthographic representations. Design/methodology/approach: In this research, two experimental studies were carried out to examine how Korean learners with different Chinese language proficiency process orthography, pronunciation, and meanings of Chinese written words. Data and analysis: Reaction times and error rates were analyzed for each study. Revised hierarchical model (RHM) and Ontogenesis Model (OM) are the major models used to analyze and discuss the results. Findings/conclusions: The findings of the phonological task reveal that intermediate-level participants utilize first language mediators to access second language (L2) words, whereas high-level participants can directly activate L2 phonological representations without first language interference. Conversely, in the semantic task, participants from both proficiency levels seem to adopt the word association model regardless of orthographic representations. Originality: The originality of the present study lies in its examination of the processing strategies employed by Korean learners of Chinese at different proficiency levels, specifically when processing Chinese words with identical or different orthographic representations. Significance/implications: These findings suggest that L2 proficiency does not guarantee the elimination of native language influence on L2 lexical processing and various factors can affect L2 lexical processing. To improve L2 lexical learning, it is recommended to start language learning early, increase vocabulary size, and enhance exposure to L2 words.

Are Translation Equivalents Always Activated When Bilinguals Perform a Task in One of Their Languages? Behavioral and ERP Evidence of the Role of the Task.

This study investigates the extent to which highly proficient Spanish-Catalan bilinguals activate Spanish translation equivalents when they are presented with Catalan words. Participants performed a translation recognition task (Experiment 1) or a primed lexical decision task (Experiment 2) where the relationship between the first presented (Catalan) word and the second presented (Spanish) word was manipulated. Semantic and form relationships between the first and the second words were examined. Semantic relatedness produced a behavioral interference effect in the translation recognition task and a facilitation effect in the primed lexical decision task. The semantic manipulation also affected the N400 component. Form relatedness produced a behavioral interference effect only in the translation recognition task, which was accompanied by a modulation of the LPC component. In contrast, there were no effects of the formal manipulation in the primed lexical decision task. These results, which are discussed in relation to the revised hierarchical model (RHM), suggest that activation of translation equivalents is a by-product of the type of task.

Words only go so far: Linguistic context affects bilingual word processing

In their keynote paper, Dijkstra, Wahl, Buytenhuijs, van Halem, Al-jibouri, de Korte, and Rekké (2018) present a computational model of bilingual word recognition and translation, Multilink, that integrates and further refines the architecture and processing principles of two influential models of bilingual word processing: the Bilingual Activation Model (BIA/BIA+) and the Revised Hierarchical model (RHM). Unlike the earlier models, Multilink has been implemented as a computational model so its design principles and assumptions can be compared with human processing data in simulation studies – which is an important step forward in model development and refinement. But Multilink also leaves behind an important theoretical advancement that was touched upon in extending BIA to BIA+ (Dijkstra & Van Heuven, 2002): how linguistic context influences word processing. In their presentation of BIA+, Dijkstra and Van Heuven (2002) hypothesized that syntactic and semantic aspects of sentence context may affect the word identification system. Theoretically, this was an important step forward, as none of the bilingual word processing models (and few monolingual word processing models, for that matter) had incorporated linguistic context, and at that time only a handful of empirical studies had examined how linguistic context affects bilingual word processing. However, in the past 15 years a significant body of empirical work has been published that examines how semantic and syntactic information in sentences impacts word processing in bilinguals. These important insights are not incorporated in the Multilink model.

Asymmetric Cross-language Activation of Translations in Korean-English Bilinguals

This study tested the predictions of the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM) and the Bilingual Interactive Activation Plus (BIA+) model through a translation recognition task in which low-intermediate Korean-English bilinguals decided whether the second word of a two-word sequence was the correct translation of the first. In the critical distractor conditions, the second word was not a correct translation of the first, but phonologically related to the first word (i.e., phonological neighbors), or phonologically related to the correct translation (i.e., translation neighbors). Results showed that the participants experienced interference for related distractors in both L2-L1 and L1-L2 translation directions. However, an interaction with distractor type was only found in the forward (L1 to L2) translation direction, with a larger interference effect for the translation neighbors. The results of the present study support and extend the predictions of the BIA+ model by showing nonselective phonological activation for different-script bilinguals, while also supporting the predictions of the RHM regarding translation asymmetry. We suggest previous assumptions regarding the mechanisms of the translation recognition task and interpretation of its data may be flawed, and propose a fundamental rethinking of these issues.

Orthographic processing in balanced bilingual children: Cross-language evidence from cognates and false friends

We investigated whether beginning bilingual readers activate orthographic as well as semantic representations in both of their languages while reading in one of them. Balanced bilingual third graders who were learning to read concurrently in German and English completed two lexical decision tasks, one in each language, including cognates, false friends, and matched control words. Results showed a processing advantage for cognates over controls in both languages, indicating that the facilitation effect is driven by the level of balanced language proficiency rather than by experience with print. Except for lower accuracy scores in German, false friends did not differ in their processing from controls, pointing to the presence of semantic-to-orthographic feedback already in the beginning of reading acquisition. Confirming assumptions by the bilingual interactive activation plus (BIA+) model as well as the revised hierarchical model (RHM), findings suggest that in their strategy to resolve orthographic ambiguity, balanced bilingual children are more comparable to bilingual adults than to child second-language (L2) learners.

<b>Acesso lexical de bilíngues e multilíngues

This paper presents studies on the lexical access of bilinguals with the aim of extending the assumptions of the bilingual lexicon to the study with multilinguals. For that, studies that investigated the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM), the Bilingual Interactive Activation (BIA+) model and the models of speech production, on the serial and interactive views, are presented. Two models specifically designed for multilinguals are also presented in this paper: the Multilingual Processing Model and the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism. Based on this review of literature, research questions are raised to the investigation of the models presented with multilinguals.

Testing the Revised Hierarchical Model: Evidence from word associations

The main purpose of the work described in this paper is to examine the extent to which the L2 developmental changes predicted by Kroll and Stewart's (1994) Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM) can be understood by word association response behaviour. The RHM attempts to account for the relative “strength of the links between words and concepts in each of the bilingual's languages” (Kroll, Van Hell, Tokowicz & Green, 2010, p. 373). It proposes that bilinguals with higher L2 proficiency tend to rely less on mediation, while less proficient L2 learners tend to rely on mediation and access L2 words by translating from L1 equivalents. In this paper, I present findings from a simple word association task. More proficient learners provided a greater proportion of collocational links, suggesting that they mediate less when compared to less proficient learners. The results provide tentative support for Kroll and Stewart's model.

The Semantic Access of Less-proficient Teochew-Cantonese Bilinguals: Evidences from Processing of Spoken Words

采用听觉跨语言启动的语义判断范式，考察非熟练潮．粤双言者的两种方言之间的语义通达方式。结果发现，无论是以潮语词为启动词，还是以粤语词为启动词，当二者具有翻译关系时，启动词均促进对目标词的识别，但L1对L2的启动量比L2对L1的启动量大。当启动词与目标词具有语义联想关系时，启动词亦能促进对目标词的识别，但L1-L2与L2-L1的启动量差异不显著。整个研究表明，非熟练潮一粤双言者的两种方言的词汇独立表征，语义共享表征；第二方言的词汇能够直接通达语义表征，不需要以第一方言的词汇为中介，但双言的词汇表征与语义表征的联结强度仍然存在着不对称性。

The effect of a bilingual learning mode on the establishment of lexical semantic representations in the L2

Deliberate vocabulary learning is common in the L2, however, questions remain about most efficient and effective forms of this learning approach. Bilingual models of L2 word learning and processing can be used to make predictions about outcomes of learning new vocabulary from bilingual (L2–L1) flashcards, and these predictions can be tested experimentally. In the present study, 41 late adult German–English bilinguals learned 48 English pseudowords using bilingual flashcards. Quality of component lexical representations established for the studied items was probed using form priming and semantic priming. The results show that, although all participants were able to establish robust orthographic representations of the studied items, only bilinguals with large L2 vocabularies established high-quality lexical semantic representations. With neither the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM) nor the Sense Model able to fully account for these findings, an alternative explanation based on a distributed semantic features view of word learning is proposed. Learning implications of the findings are discussed.

Translation recognition in highly proficient Hindi–English bilinguals: The influence of different scripts but connectable phonologies

This study investigates the phonological nature of the lexical links in the bilingual lexicon using different-script bilinguals. Highly proficient Hindi–English bilinguals performed a translation recognition task (i.e., decide whether two words presented sequentially are a correct translation pair). For the critical trials, the second word was a nontranslation distractor word and thus required a no response. The properties of the no trials were manipulated to examine participants' sensitivity to orthographic and phonological relations. The first manipulation investigated whether different-script bilinguals utilise the L1 translation equivalent link in a similar fashion as same-script bilinguals and tested the generalisability of the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM) to the case of different-script bilinguals. The second manipulation tested the predictions of the Bilingual Interactive Activation plus model (BIA +) regarding phonological nonselectivity in the bilingual lexicon. Results suggest that these highly proficient different-script bilinguals utilise translation equivalent lexical links in a distinct manner from same-script bilinguals, but do display nonselective phonological activation in the form of facilitation across languages that do not share script.

Investigating Conceptual Mediation in L2 Vocabulary Acquisition Using False Memories

This study examines the process of associating an English word with a concept by two proficiency groups of Korean (L1) learners of English (L2) in the framework of a well-known developmental model of the lexicon, the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM) (Kroll & Stewart, 1994). The technique used in the present study in testing the RHM and its assumption regarding the structure of L2 lexicon was the false memory paradigm. False memory occurs when a learner recalls a word that was not presented in a list of words. Results from 104 Korean learners of English of recall test and recognition test using lists of words showed that individuals are more susceptible to false memories in their L1 than in their L2 and that more proficient L2 learners exhibit more false memories both in their L1 and in their L2 than do less proficient learners. The results of the recognition test were similar to those of recall test. The theoretical and pedagogical implications of these findings will be discussed in terms of L2 mental lexicon and vocabulary teaching and learning in the classroom.

Senior Chinese high school students' awareness of thematic and taxonomic relations in L1 and L2

In the development of their semantic networks, bilinguals can be influenced by the levels of proficiency they have in their second language (L2) and by the age at which they acquired the language. Two exercises, one in word association and one in forced-choice decision-making, were used to test whether the pattern of relative awareness of thematic and taxonomic relations that senior Chinese high school students had in L2 differed from the pattern they had in their first language (L1). The results consistently indicated that (i) the participants appeared as aware of taxonomic relations in L2 as they were in L1; and (ii) they were more readily aware of thematic than of taxonomic relations in L1 but less readily aware of thematic than of taxonomic relations in L2. It was concluded that with taxonomic relations, low-proficiency bilinguals could have a common set of conceptual representations for both L2 and L1, as they are assumed in the revised hierarchical model (RHM) to have. With thematic associations, they might have more difficulty gaining access to their representations in L2 than they might have in L1.

The Revised Hierarchical Model: A critical review and assessment

Brysbaert and Duyck (2009) suggest that it is time to abandon the Revised Hierarchical Model (Kroll and Stewart, 1994) in favor of connectionist models such as BIA+ (Dijkstra and Van Heuven, 2002) that more accurately account for the recent evidence on nonselective access in bilingual word recognition. In this brief response, we first review the history of the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM), consider the set of issues that it was proposed to address, and then evaluate the evidence that supports and fails to support the initial claims of the model. Although 15 years of new research findings require a number of revisions to the RHM, we argue that the central issues to which the model was addressed, the way in which new lexical forms are mapped to meaning and the consequence of language learning history for lexical processing, cannot be accounted for solely within models of word recognition.

Models as hypothesis generators and models as roadmaps

In this reply to Kroll, Van Hell, Tokowicz and Green (this issue) we present an analysis of the citations made to the Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM). This gives us a quantitative summary of the current use of the RHM, showing that RHM has been used equally often to guide research in word recognition as in word production. We also question the claim that Brysbaert and Duyck's (this issue) focus on word recognition leaves RHM unscathed for the explanation of word production and the interactions between lexical and conceptual representations. For these research topics too, we feel that more progress will be made by adapting computational monolingual models to the bilingual situation rather than by trying to understand the findings from the RHM framework.

Is it time to leave behind the Revised Hierarchical Model of bilingual language processing after fifteen years of service?

The Revised Hierarchical Model (RHM) of bilingual language processing dominates current thinking on bilingual language processing. Recently, basic tenets of the model have been called into question. First, there is little evidence for separate lexicons. Second, there is little evidence for language selective access. Third, the inclusion of excitatory connections between translation equivalents at the lexical level is likely to impede word recognition. Fourth, the connections between L2 words and their meanings are stronger than proposed in RHM. And finally, there is good evidence to make a distinction between language-dependent and language-independent semantic features. It is argued that the Revised Hierarchical Model cannot easily be adapted to incorporate these challenges and that a more fruitful way forward is to start from existing computational models of monolingual language processing and see how they can be adapted for bilingual input and output, as has been done in the Bilingual Interactive Activation model.

Concept Selection and Developmental Effects in Bilingual Speech Production

The present study investigates the locus of language selection in less and more proficient language learners, specifically testing differential predictions of La Heij's (2005) concept selection model (CSM) and Kroll and Stewart's (1994) revised hierarchical model (RHM). Less and more proficient English dominant learners of Spanish participated in a Stroop translation task that included semantically related and unrelated word or picture distracters. The results for the more proficient learners provide support for the CSM as well as the RHM. The results for the less proficient learners provide support for the RHM and demonstrate the continued reliance on lexical level links and the difficulty in accessing the conceptual store during second language production. The selection by proficiency model of bilingual speech production is discussed.

Bilingual language representation and cognitive processes in translation

ABSTRACTAtext-translation task and a recognition task investigated the hypothesis thatsemantic memoryprincipally mediates translation from a bilingual's native first language (L1) to her second language (L2), whereaslexical memorymediates translation from L2 to L1. This has been held for word translation by the revised hierarchical model (RHM) of Kroll and Stewart. The results from Greek, English, and French fluent bilinguals showed semantic errors in L1–L2 direction and lexical errors in L2–L1 direction in the translation task as RHM would predict, but not semantic effects in L1–L2 direction in the word recognition task. These findings suggest a flexible use of conceptual and lexical connections that fluent bilinguals engage, depending upon the cognitive processes required by the task at hand.

Code-switching across brainstorming sessions: implications for the revised hierarchical model of bilingual language processing.

The revised hierarchical model (RHM) of bilingual language processing posits independent word form representations for the dominant language (L1) and the nondominant language (L2), facilitated translation from L2 words to L1 words, access to common concepts for L1 and L2, and stronger activation of concepts for L1 than for L2. Spanish-English and English-Spanish bilinguals brainstormed for two sessions; half switched languages (L1-L2 or L2-L1) and half stayed in the same language (L1-L1 or L2-L2) across sessions. In both sessions, L1 brainstorming resulted in more efficient idea productivity than L2 brainstorming, supporting stronger concept activation for L1, consistent with the RHM. Switching languages from L2 to L1 resulted in the most efficient idea productivity in Session 2, suggesting that switching to L1 not only permits strong concept activation, but also the activation of concepts that are relatively different than those activated by L2, inconsistent with the RHM. Switching languages increased the proportion of Session 1 ideas repeated during Session 2, despite instructions not to repeat. This finding suggests that there is activation of concepts as well as word forms in same language brainstorming and that this dual activation aids in following instructions not to repeat, consistent with the RHM. It is suggested that the RHM be re-specified to accommodate the notion that L1 and L2 access relatively different concepts.