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The Cross-Language Activation of First Language (L1) Polysemy in Second Language(L2) Processing: An investigation of whether (L1) Polysemous Words translations are activated in L2 Sentence Context
Poster Session B, Friday, October 25, 10:00 - 11:30 am, Great Hall 3 and 4
Mona Alsalmi1, Nan Jiang; 1Myrland college park university
A present study aimed to investigate the role of a first language (L1) translation on a second language (L2) word processing in a sentential context by relatively advanced Arabic learners of English using eye tracking. The focus is on cases where a homonymous word in the L1 is realized by independent words in the L2, (e.g. Arabic قرش realized by English shark and coin). Using the visual world paradigm, Arabic-English bilinguals and English native participants were auditorily presented with English sentences that are predictive of a specific target word (e.g., “shark” in Scuba divers saw the sharp teeth of a giant shark yesterday) while looking at a visual screen. The screen contained one of the three critical objects: a target object whose English name corresponded to the target word (shark; Arabic: قرش) in the target condition, an Arabic competitor object whose Arabic name shared the same Arabic translation with the target word (coin; Arabic: قرش) in the Arabic condition, or an object that was unrelated to the target word (drums; Arabic طبل) in the control condition. Compared to native speakers of English, relatively advanced Saudi learners of English made more fixations on the critical objects in the Arabic condition compared to the control condition. This study supports the potential automatic activation of L1 translations when processing sentences in L2, even in relatively highly proficient learners, and suggests evidence for the verification model in L2 word recognition. Keywords: Visual-world Paradigm, Cross-language activation, Homonyms, Target-absent Task. .
Topic Areas: Language Development/Acquisition,