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Cross-language phonological activation of meaning: evidence from category verification*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2011

DEANNA C. FRIESEN
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
DEBRA JARED*
Affiliation:
University of Western Ontario
*
Address for correspondence: Debra Jared, Department of Psychology, Social Sciences Centre, University of Western Ontario, London ON, Canada, N6A 5C2djjared@uwo.ca

Abstract

The study investigated phonological processing in bilingual reading for meaning. English–French and French–English bilinguals performed a category verification task in either their first or second language. Interlingual homophones (words that share phonology across languages but not orthography or meaning) and single language control words served as critical stimuli. The interlingual homophones and their control words were not members of the categories, but their interlingual homophone mates were category members (e.g., A vegetable: shoe, where chou in French means “cabbage”). The bilinguals made more errors and had longer decision latencies on homophones than on their control words, providing evidence for cross-language phonological activation of meaning. Results are discussed with respect to the Bilingual Interactive Activation Model (BIA+).

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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Footnotes

*

This research was supported by a grant from the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to D. Jared. This work was part of D. Friesen's doctoral dissertation at the University of Western Ontario. We are grateful to Corinne Haigh, McGill University, for coordinating testing, to Marianne Smiley and Justin Rill for testing participants and to Debra Titone, McGill University, for the use of lab equipment. Deanna Friesen is now at the Department of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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