The representation of “false cognates” in the bilingual lexicon

The results of repetition priming studies with homographs such asbank suggest that semantic constraints restrict priming to the specific meaning invoked during the study phase. Cross-language priming studies with “false cognates” (words with similar form but unrelated meanings) suggest that form similarity may be sufficient to support repetition priming, and they do not therefore support this claim. The relevant studies have used language cues (e.g., seeing the word ESTATE in the context of other Italian words) as distinct from semantic cues (e.g.,inverno—estate) to constrain meaning, however, so that interpretation is correspondingly uncertain. The experiment described in this paper was designed to answer this question: Does sequential exposure to the English word pairmanor—estate during the study phase facilitate lexical decision to the second of these words during sequential exposure to the Italian word pairinverno—estate (i.e., winter-summer) during the test phase of the experiment? In the experiment reported below, interpretation of false cognates was constrained by meaning rather than language, and cross-language repetition priming was eliminated for false cognates. The results suggest that lexical representation in bilinguals is organized along morphological lines rather than by language.

[1]  Alphonse G. Juilland,et al.  Frequency Dictionary of Italian Words , 1973 .

[2]  K. Forster,et al.  REPETITION PRIMING AND FREQUENCY ATTENUATION IN LEXICAL ACCESS , 1984 .

[3]  Kim Kirsner,et al.  Skill acquisition and repetition priming: One principle, many processes , 1996 .

[4]  Lawrence Freedman,et al.  Fluent identification of repeated words. , 1990 .

[5]  P. A. Kolers,et al.  Memory for Words, Synonyms, and Translations. , 1980 .

[6]  Mark S. Seidenberg,et al.  Evidence for Multiple Stages in the Processing of Ambiguous Words in Syntactic Contexts. , 1979 .

[7]  L. Jacoby.  A process dissociation framework: Separating automatic from intentional uses of memory , 1991 .

[8]  Joan L. Bybee.  Morphology: A study of the relation between meaning and form , 1985 .

[9]  R Ratcliff,et al.  Components of activation: repetition and priming effects in lexical decision and recognition. , 1985, Journal of experimental psychology. General.

[10]  Kim Kirsner,et al.  The bilingual lexicon: Language-specific units in an integrated network , 1984 .

[11]  S. Lewandowsky,et al.  Context effects in repetition priming are sense effects , 1993, Memory & cognition.

[12]  Kenneth I. Forster,et al.  Translation priming with different scripts: Masked priming with cognates and noncognates in Hebrew–English bilinguals. , 1997 .

[13]  Don L. Scarborough,et al.  Frequency and Repetition Effects in Lexical Memory. , 1977 .

[14]  Don L. Scarborough,et al.  Language-specific lexical access of homographs by bilinguals. , 1989 .

[15]  Curt Burgess,et al.  Activation and selection processes in the recognition of ambiguous words. , 1985 .

[16]  A. Caramazza,et al.  Priming homographic stems , 1989 .

[17]  Walter Kintsch,et al.  Recognition Memory in Bilingual Subjects. , 1970 .

[18]  J. Jones.  Early integration of context during lexical access of homonym meanings , 1991 .

[19]  F Boselie,et al.  Against the likelihood principle in visual form perception. , 1988, Psychological review.

[20]  Don L. Scarborough,et al.  Independence of lexical access in bilingual word recognition , 1984 .

[21]  A. D. Groot,et al.  Lexical representation of cognates and noncognates in compound bilinguals , 1991 .

[22]  M. Masson,et al.  Masked priming of words and nonwords in a naming task: Further evidence for a nonlexical basis for priming , 1999, Memory & cognition.

[23]  Jonathan Grainger,et al.  Accessing interlexical homographs: Some limitations of a language-selective access , 1987 .

[24]  M. Potter,et al.  Lexical and conceptual representation in beginning and proficient bilinguals , 1984 .

[25]  D Milech,et al.  Common and modality-specific processes in the mental lexicon , 1983, Memory & cognition.

[26]  K. Kirsner,et al.  The Bilingual Lexicon: Exercise, Meaning and Morphology , 1993 .

[27]  G. Logan.  Toward an instance theory of automatization. , 1988 .

[28]  K. Kirsner,et al.  The Role of Script and Phonology in Lexical Representation , 1984 .

[29]  Kim Kirsner,et al.  Bilingual Lexical Representation: The Status of Spanish-English Cognates , 1986 .

[30]  K. Kirsner,et al.  Bilingualism and Lexical Representation , 1980 .

[31]  A. Marcel.  Conscious and unconscious perception: An approach to the relations between phenomenal experience and perceptual processes , 1983, Cognitive Psychology.