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Cross-language mediated priming: Effects of context and lexical relationship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2008

ANA I. SCHWARTZ  and
ANA B. ARÊAS DA LUZ FONTES
ANA B. ARÊAS DA LUZ FONTES*
Affiliation:
University of Texas at El Paso
*
Address for correspondence: Ana Schwartz, Department of Psychology, 500 W. University Ave., University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas 79968, USAaischwartz@utep.edu
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Abstract

We examined how linguistic context influences the nature of bilingual lexical activation. We hypothesized that in single-word context, form-related words would receive the strongest activation while, in sentence context, semantically related words would receive the strongest activation. Spanish–English bilinguals performed a semantic verification task on English target words preceded by a prime. On critical trials, the prime and target words were paired based either on a form-mediated relationship through the native language (L1), [e.g., bark (barco): BOAT] (Experiment 1) or on a semantically-mediated relationship [e.g., boat (barco): BARK] (Experiment 2). The prime word was presented either in isolation or after a sentence context. In Experiment 1 interference was observed in the single word condition only. In Experiment 2 interference was observed in both single-word and sentence contexts. The findings demonstrate that the context in which words are embedded has an impact on the type of lexical competitors that become active.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 11 , Issue 1 , March 2008 , pp. 95 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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