Unbalanced Bilinguals Research Articles

Two words, one meaning: evidence of automatic co-activation of translation equivalents.

Research on the processing of translations offers important insights on how bilinguals negotiate the representation of words from two languages in one mind and one brain. Evidence so far has shown that translation equivalents effectively activate each other as well as their shared concept even when translations lack of any formal overlap (i.e., non-cognates) and even when one of them is presented subliminally, namely under masked priming conditions. In the lexical decision studies testing masked translation priming effects with unbalanced bilinguals a remarkably stable pattern emerges: larger effects in the dominant (L1) to the non-dominant (L2) translation direction, than vice versa. Interestingly, this asymmetry vanishes when simultaneous and balanced bilinguals are tested, suggesting that the linguistic profile of the bilinguals could be determining the pattern of cross-language lexico-semantic activation across the L2 learning trajectory. The present study aims to detect whether L2 proficiency is the critical variable rendering the otherwise asymmetric cross-language activation of translations obtained in the lexical decision task into symmetric. Non-cognate masked translation priming effects were examined with three groups of Greek (L1)–English (L2) unbalanced bilinguals, differing exclusively at their level of L2 proficiency. Although increased L2 proficiency led to improved overall L2 performance, masked translation priming effects were virtually identical across the three groups, yielding in all cases significant but asymmetric effects (i.e., larger effects in the L1 → L2 than in the L2 → L1 translation direction). These findings show that proficiency does not modulate masked translation priming effects at intermediate levels, and that a native-like level of L2 proficiency is needed for symmetric effects to emerge. They furthermore, pose important constraints on the operation of the mechanisms underlying the development of cross-language lexico-semantic links.

Masked translation priming effects with low proficient bilinguals

Non-cognate masked translation priming lexical decision studies with unbalanced bilinguals suggest that masked translation priming effects are asymmetric as a function of the translation direction (significant effects only in the dominant [L1] to nondominant [L2] language translation direction). However, in contrast to the predictions of most current accounts of masked translation priming effects, bidirectional effects have recently been reported with a group of low proficient bilinguals Duyck & Warlop 2009 (Experimental Psychology 56:173-179). In a series of masked translation priming lexical decision experiments we examined whether the same pattern of effects would emerge with late and low proficient Greek (L1)-Spanish (L2) bilinguals. Contrary to the results obtained by Duyck and Warlop, and in line with the results found in most studies in the masked priming literature, significant translation priming effects emerged only when the bilinguals performed the task with L1 primes and L2 targets. The existence of the masked translation priming asymmetry with low proficient bilinguals suggests that cross-linguistic automatic lexico-semantic links may be established very early in the process of L2 acquisition. These findings could help to define models of bilingualism that consider L2 proficiency level to be a determining factor.

The frequency effect in second-language visual word recognition

A lexical decision experiment with Dutch-English bilinguals compared the effect of word frequency on visual word recognition in the first language with that in the second language. Bilinguals showed a considerably larger frequency effect in their second language, even though corpus frequency was matched across languages. Experiment 2 tested monolingual, native speakers of English on the English materials from Experiment 1. This yielded a frequency effect comparable to that of the bilinguals in Dutch (their L1). These results constrain the way in which existing models of word recognition can be extended to unbalanced bilingualism. In particular, the results are compatible with a theory by which the frequency effect originates from implicit learning. They are also compatible with models that attribute frequency effects to serial search in frequency-ordered bins (Murray & Forster, 2004), if these models are extended with the assumption that scanning speed is language dependent, or that bins are not language specific.

Reaching the end point and stopping midway: different scenarios in the acquisition of Russian

This is a survey article that brings together some more familiar patterns in the acquisition of Russian (by monolingual speakers) and lesser known ones, reflecting the acquisition and maintenance of Russian in the context of another dominant language ‐ in this case, American English. Assuming a critical distinction between two types of acquisition, the acquisition of language that results in complete, full native speaker competency (regardless of whether a particular speaker represents the standard, educated, variety of L1, or any other of its varieties), and the acquisition interrupted, in childhood, by the switch to another language as dominant, the former will be referred to as uninterrupted acquisition, the latter as incomplete acquisition. Of these two, uninterrupted acquisition is the one that is standardly pursued and discussed in L1 acquisition studies. Incomplete acquisition, which results in the linguistic profile of a heritage speaker, has gone mostly unnoticed, for a number of reasons. To name just a few: heritage speakers often have passive language skills only, which makes it hard to assess their language competence. Heritage speakers are often mistaken for unbalanced bilinguals, and as such considered desirable subjects for bilingualism research. Lumped together with other types of language attrition and loss, the language of heritage speakers has chiefly been the province of sociolinguistic studies, and it is often hard to make two separate subfields within linguistics talk to one another. In the meantime, heritage speakers may well be an important missing piece that would enrich the picture of L1 acquisition that we are trying to create.

The bilingual effect on Boston Naming Test performance

The present study aimed to determine how older bilingual subjects' naming performance is affected by their knowledge of two languages. Twenty-nine aging (mean age = 74.0; SD = 7.1) Spanish-English bilinguals were asked to name all pictures in the Boston Naming Test (BNT) first in their dominant language and then in their less-dominant language. Bilinguals with similar naming scores in each language, or relatively balanced bilinguals, named more pictures correctly when credited for producing a correct name in either language. Balanced bilinguals also named fewer pictures in their dominant language than unbalanced bilinguals, and named more pictures correctly in both languages if the pictures had cognate names (e.g., dart is dardo in Spanish). Unbalanced bilinguals did not benefit from the alternative (either-language) scoring procedure and showed cognate effects only in their nondominant language. These findings may help to guide the interpretation of neuropsychological data for the purpose of determining cognitive status in older bilinguals and can be used to develop models of bilingual language processing. Bilinguals' ability to name pictures reflects their experience with word forms in both languages.

Speaking words in the second language: From semantics to phonology in 170 ms

The temporal course of semantic and phonological retrieval when producing words in the second language was investigated using ERP technique. In the experiment, less proficient Chinese–English bilinguals were required to name pictures in their second language. Before performing this task, they carried out a dual choice go/nogo task on the basis of a picture's semantic information (i.e., whether the picture was of an object or an animal) and phonological information (e.g., whether the picture's English name starts with the letter C or F). During the time window of 200–600 ms after stimulus onset, nogo trials generated a more negative ERP profile relative to go trials. A clear-cut N200 was obtained from their difference waves. Overall, the peak latency of N200 elicited by semantic information is earlier than that by phonological information. It takes unbalanced bilinguals approximate 170 ms to retrieve phonological information after semantic information becomes available in the second language production. These findings suggest that the semantic information is encoded earlier than the phonological information during the second language production.

The role of language of instruction and vocabulary in the English phonological awareness of Spanish–English bilingual children

This study explores influences on bilingual children's phonological awareness (PA) performance in English, examining the role of language of instruction and vocabulary. English monolingual and Spanish–English bilingual kindergartners and first graders receiving either English or Spanish literacy instruction were assessed in English PA and in English and Spanish vocabulary, as appropriate. Spanish-instructed bilinguals were more likely than English-instructed bilinguals or English monolinguals to treat diphthongs as two units, reflecting their analysis in Spanish phonology and orthography. Surprisingly, unbalanced bilinguals dominant in either English or Spanish scored better on English PA than children with approximately equal scores on the English and the Spanish vocabulary test. This finding suggests that familiarity with many lexical items within a language constitutes a source of analyzable phonological knowledge.

Gender processing in first and second languages: The role of noun termination.

In 2 picture-naming and 2 grammaticality judgment experiments, the authors explored how the phonological form of a word, especially its termination, affects gender processing by monolinguals and unbalanced bilinguals speaking German. The results of the 2 experiments with native German speakers yielded no significant differences: The reaction times were statistically identical for items from gender typical, ambiguous, and gender atypical groups. The 2 experiments with English bilinguals who had learned German as a second language (L2), however, provided evidence that the L2 word's termination plays a role in L2 gender processing. Participants were fastest when producing gender-marked noun phrases containing a noun with a gender typical termination and slowest when the noun had a gender atypical termination. Analogous results were obtained in the grammaticality judgment experiment. These findings support the assumption that there is interaction between the levels of phonological encoding and grammatical encoding at least in bilingual processing.

Bilingualism and adult differences in inhibitory mechanisms: Evidence from a bilingual stroop task

The present investigation examined the functioning of inhibitory mechanisms in younger and older bilinguals using a bilingual version of the Stroop test. The study predicted different patterns of age related decline in inhibitory mechanisms (inter- and intralingual interference) in bilinguals depending on their level of proficiency. Consistent with expectations, older bilinguals were slower when they responded in their non-dominant language. Furthermore, older unbalanced bilinguals showed greater interlingual interference when they responded with their second language to visual stimuli written in their dominant language. Balanced bilinguals showed equivalent interference effects between all conditions. These findings suggest that manipulating two languages may enhance the efficiency of inhibitory mechanisms.

Forward and backward number translation requires conceptual mediation in both balanced and unbalanced bilinguals.

It is much debated whether translation is semantically mediated or based on word-word associations at the lexical level. In 2 experiments with Dutch (L1)-French (L2) bilinguals, the authors showed that there is a semantic number magnitude effect in both forward and backward translation of number words: It takes longer to translate number words representing large quantities (e.g., acht, huit [eight]) than small quantities (e.g., twee, deux [two]). In a 3rd experiment, the authors replicated these effects with number words that had been acquired only just before the translation task. Finally, it was shown that the findings were not due to the restricted semantic context of the stimuli. These findings strongly suggest that translation processes can be semantically mediated in both directions, even at low levels of L2 proficiency.

Task effects in masked cross-script translation and phonological priming

This study examined cross-language masked priming with Korean–English unbalanced bilinguals. The aim was to determine if the type of prime and target relationship and the type of response task would modulate across-language priming effects. The nature of the relationship between prime (Korean: L1) and target (English: L2) pairs was manipulated so that they shared semantics and phonology (cognate translations), semantics only (noncognate translations), phonology only (homophones), or neither phonology nor semantics (baseline). These prime types were tested in three different response tasks, i.e., lexical decision, naming, and semantic categorization. In the lexical decision task (Experiment 1), significant priming from cognate and noncognate translation primes was observed. Homophone primes did not produce a significant priming effect. In the naming task (Experiment 2), both cognate and homophone primes produced significant priming effects but the noncognate translation primes did not. Experiment 3 replicated the homophone priming effect and showed that it was unlikely to be due to the shared initial phonemes of primes and targets. Finally, the semantic categorization task (Experiment 4) showed cognate and noncognate translation priming but not homophone priming. The results indicated that priming was affected both by prime–target relationship and by task type; this outcome was discussed in terms of the regulation of lexical information by a task-decision system.

Processing hyponymy in L1 and L2.

This study examined the processing of hyponmy in L1 and two levels of performance (overall and high proficiency) in L2 in a group of Persian-English bilinguals. In two experiments, the same participants detected semantic relation in hyponymy pairs (i.e., hyponym-superordinate vs. superordinate-hyponym) in L1 (experiment 1) and L2 (experiment 2). The variables of pair type, stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA), language, and language proficiency were manipulated Overall, the results showed that participants median RTs and SDs were significantly greater in L2. This suggests that L2 processing in unbalanced bilinguals is less automatic than L1 processing. The findings of experiment 2 with the higher proficiency group showed a trend toward performance in L1 and therefore confirmed the prediction of the hierarchical model of bilingual memory that lexical processes in more-fluent bilinguals approximate those of L1 speakers. The results of the two experiments also showed that participants were significantly faster when presented with superordinate-hyponym word pairs than with hyponym-superordinate word pairs at 100-ms SOA in both L1 and L2 conditions. The results at 200-ms SOA, however, showed an opposite trend, although the results with L2 did not reach significance. This trend of results points to a possibility of automatic vs. strategic processing in the sense that participants processing of hyponymy relation was more strategic than automatic at 200-ms SOA.

Word Translation at Three Levels of Proficiency in a Second Language: The Ubiquitous Involvement of Conceptual Memory

Three groups of 20 unbalanced bilinguals, different from one another in second language (L2) fluency, translated one set of words from L1, Dutch, to L2, English (forward translation), and a second set of matched words from L2 to L1 (backward translation). In both language sets we orthogonally manipulated 3 word characteristics: word imageability, word frequency, and cognate status. Similar data patterns were obtained for the 3 proficiency groups, suggesting that word translation was qualitatively the same in all 3. Especially, word imageability affected performance similarly across the 3 proficiency levels. This suggests that our 3 groups did not differ in the degree to which they involved conceptual memory in the translation process. Further, contrary to the “asymmetry” model of word translation, conceptual memory appeared to operate as much in backward translation as in forward translation. The combined data indicate that, at least beyond the initial stages of L2 fluency, “concept mediation” is a universal process in translating words between 2 languages. We can account for the few, generally small differences between the fluency groups in terms of the idea that some subsets of words lag in L2 knowledge development.

Forward and Backward Word Translation by Bilinguals

The determinants of performance in word translation by unbalanced bilinguals, fairly fluent in their second language, were studied. Translation was both from the subjects′ native (L1) to their second (L2) language and in the reverse direction ("forward" and backward" translation, respectively). The predictor variables were imageability, context availability, definition accuracy, familiarity, word frequency, length (each of these six was determined for the L1 and L2 words separately), and the cognate status of the translation equivalents. Both forward and backward word translation were influenced by meaning variables, familiarity variables, and cognate status. However, meaning played a somewhat more important role in forward than in backward translation, whereas familiarity appeared to have a larger influence in backward translation. A few other differences between forward and backward translation were detected, but, when considering the complete stimulus set, the differences between translation directions were generally small. In some of the subsets of the stimulus materials (particularly noncognates) larger directional differences occurred. Particularly relevant is the finding that meaning affects backward translation, because it suggests a qualification of the "asymmetry model" of word translation as proposed by Kroll and Stewart (1994).