Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-2pzkn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-06T06:00:23.171Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The impact of individual differences on cross-language activation of meaning by phonology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2019

Deanna C. Friesen Open the ORCID record for Deanna C. Friesen [Opens in a new window] ,
Veronica Whitford ,
Debra Titone  and
Debra Jared
Deanna C. Friesen*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Education, University of Western Ontario
Veronica Whitford
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Brain and Mind Institute, University of Western Ontario
Debra Titone
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Centre for Research on Brain, Language and Music, McGill University
Debra Jared
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario
*
Address for correspondence: Deanna C. Friesen, Email: Deanna.Friesen@uwo.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We investigated how individual differences in language proficiency and executive control impact cross-language meaning activation through phonology. Ninety-six university students read English sentences that contained French target words. Target words were high- and low-frequency French interlingual homophones (i.e., words that share pronunciation, but not meaning across langauges; mot means ‘word’ in French and sounds like ‘mow’ in English) and matched French control words (e.g., mois – ‘month’ in French). Readers could use the homophones’ shared phonology to activate their English meanings and, ultimately, make sense of the sentence (e.g., Tony was too lazy to mot/mois the grass on Sunday). Shorter reading times were observed on interlingual homophones than control words, suggesting that phonological representations in one language activate cross-language semantic representations. Importantly, the magnitude of the effect was modulated by word frequency, and several participant-level characteristics, including French proficiency, English word knowledge, and executive control ability.

Keywords

bilingualismeye movementsreadingphonologysemanticssentence processing
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , March 2020 , pp. 323 - 343
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ando, E, Jared, D, Nakayama, M, & Hino, Y (2014) Cross-script phonological priming with Kanji primes and English targets. Journal of Cognitive Psychology 26, 858–870. doi: 10.1080/20445911.2014.971026CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ando, E, Matsuki, K, Sheridan, H, & Jared, D (2015) The locus of Katakana-English masked phonological priming effects. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 18, 101–117. doi:10.1017/S1366728914000121CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baayen, HR (2008) Analyzing linguistic data: A practical introduction to statistics using R. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511801686CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baayen, HR, Davidson, DJ, & Bates, DM (2008) Mixed-effects modeling with crossed random effects for subjects and items. Journal of Memory and Language 59, 390–412. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2007.12.005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baayen, RH, Piepenbrock, R, & van Rijn, H (1993) The CELEX lexical database (CD-ROM). Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania. Linguistic Data Consortium.Google Scholar
Bates, D, & Sarkar, D (2006) lme4: Linear mixed-effects modeling using S4 classes R package (Version 0.9975–10). Vienna, Austria: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.Google Scholar
Brysbaert, M, Van Dyck, G, & Van de Poel, M (1999) Visual word recognition in bilinguals: Evidence from masked phonological priming. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 25, 137–148. doi:10.1037/0096-1523.25.1.137Google ScholarPubMed
Carrasco-Ortiz, H, Midgley, KJ, & Frenck-Mestre, C (2012), Are phonological representations in bilinguals language specific? An ERP study on interlingual homophones. Psychophysiology 49, 531–543. doi:10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01333.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clifton, C Jr., Staub, A, & Rayner, K (2007) Eye movements in reading words and sentences. In van Gompel, RPG, Fischer, MH, Murray, WS & Hill, RL (Eds.), Eye movements: A window on mind and brain; eye movements: A window on mind and brain (pp. 341–371) Elsevier, Amsterdam. doi:10.1016/B978-008044980-7/50017-3Google Scholar
Daneman, M, & Reingold, E (1993) What eye fixations tell us about phonological receding during reading. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology 47, 153–178. doi: 10.1037/h0078818CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daneman, M, Reingold, EM, & Davidson, M (1995) Time course of phonological activation during reading: Evidence from eye fixations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 21, 884–898. doi: 10.1037/0278-7393.21.4.884Google Scholar
Davis, CJ (2005) N-Watch: A program for deriving neighborhood size and other psycholinguistic statistics. Behavior Research Methods 37, 65–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Degani, T, Prior, A, & Hajajra, W (2017) Cross-language semantic influences in different script bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition. Advance online publication. doi:10.1017/S1366728917000311Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T, Grainger, J, & van Heuven, WJB (1999) Recognition of cognates and interlingual homographs: The neglected role of phonology. Journal of Memory and Language 41, 496–518. doi: 10.1006/jmla.1999.2654CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dijkstra, T, & van Heuven, WJB (1998) The BIA model and bilingual word recognition. In Grainger, J & Jacobs, AM (Eds.), Localist connectionist approaches to human cognition (pp. 189–225). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T, & van Heuven, WJB (2002) The architecture of the bilingual word recognition system: From identification to decision. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 5, 175–197. doi: 10.1017/S1366728902003012CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duyck, W (2005) Translation and associative priming with cross-lingual pseudohomophones: Evidence for nonselective phonological activation in bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 31, 1340–1359. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.31.6.1340Google ScholarPubMed
Duyck, W, Diependaele, K, Drieghe, D, & Brysbaert, M (2004) The size of the cross-lingual masked phonological priming effect does not depend on second language proficiency. Experimental Psychology 51, 116–124. doi: 10.1027/1618-3169.51.2.116CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feng, G, Miller, K, Shu, H, & Zhang, H (2001) Rowed to recovery: The use of phonological and orthographic information in reading Chinese and English. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 27, 1079–1100. doi: 10.1037/0278-7393.27.4.1079Google ScholarPubMed
Friesen, D.C., & Haigh, CA (2018) Cross-language associative priming in influenced by language proficiency and executive control. The Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology 72(4), 264–276. doi:10.1037/cep0000155.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friesen, DC, & Jared, D (2012) Cross-language phonological activation of meaning: Evidence from category verification. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 15, 145–156. doi:10.1017/S1366728910000489CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friesen, DC, Jared, D, & Haigh, C.A. (2014) Phonological processing dynamics in bilingual word naming. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology 68, 179–193. doi: 10.1037/cep0000026CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friesen, DC, Oh, J, & Bialystok, E (2016) Phonologically-mediated meaning activation in monolinguals and bilinguals: Evidence from homophone effects in ERP. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 6, 262–289. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.33.4.623CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FitzPatrick, I, & Indefrey, P (2014) Head start for target language in bilingual listening. Brain Research 1542, 111–130. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2013.10.014CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gollan, TH, Montoya, RI, Cera, C, & Sandoval, TC (2008) More use almost always means a smaller frequency effect: Aging, bilingualism, and the weaker links hypothesis. Journal of Memory and Language 58 787–814. doi: 10.1016/j.jml.2007.07.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, D.W., & Abutalebi, J (2013) Language control in bilinguals: The adaptive control hypothesis. Journal of Cognitive Psychology 25, 515–530. doi: 10.1080/20445911.2013.796377CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haigh, CA, & Jared, D (2007) The activation of phonological representations by bilinguals while reading silently: Evidence from interlingual homophones. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition 33, 623–644. doi: 10.1037/0278-7393.33.4.623Google ScholarPubMed
Harm, MW, & Seidenberg, MS (2004) Computing the meanings of words in reading: Cooperative division of labor between visual and phonological processes. Psychological Review 111, 662–720. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.111.3.662CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoversten, L J., & Traxler, M.J. (2016) Time course analysis of interlingual homograph processing: Evidence from eye movements. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 19, 347–360. doi:10.1017/S1366728915000115CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jared, D (2015) Literacy and literacy development in bilinguals. In Pollatsek, A & Treiman, R (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of reading (pp. 165–182). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Jared, D, Cormier, P, Levy, BA, & Wade-Woolley, L (2011) Early predictors of biliteracy development in children in French Immersion: A 4-Year longitudinal study. Journal of Educational Psychology 103, 119–139. doi: 10.1037/a0021284CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jared, D, & Kroll, J (2001) Do bilinguals activate phonological representations in one or both of their languages when naming words? Journal of Memory and Language 44, 2–31. doi: 10.1006/jmla.2000.2747CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jared, D, Levy, BA, & Rayner, K (1999) The role of phonology in the activation of word meanings during reading: Evidence from proof-reading and eye movements. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 128, 219–264. doi: 10.1037/0096-3445.128.3.219CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jared, D, & O'Donnell, K (2017) Skilled, adult readers activate the meanings of high-frequency words using phonology: Evidence from eye-tracking. Memory & Cognition 45, 334–346. doi: 10.3758/s13421-016-0661-4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jared, D, & Seidenberg, MS (1991) Does word identification proceed from spelling to sound to meaning? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 120, 358–394. doi:10.1037/0096-3445.120.4.358CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kreiner, H, & Degani, T (2015) Tip-of-the-tongue in a second language: the effects of brief first language exposure and long-term use. Cognition 137, 106–114. doi: .1016/j.cognition.2014.12.011CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuperman, V, Drieghe, D, Keuleers, E, & Brysbaert, M (2013) How strongly do word reading times and lexical decision times correlate? Combining data from eye movement corpora and megastudies. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 66, 563–580. doi: 10.1080/17470218.2012.658820CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Landauer, T.K., Foltz, P.W., & Laham, D (1998) An introduction to latent semantic analysis. Discourse Processes 25, 259–284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lauro, J, & Schwartz, AI (2017) Bilingual non-selective lexical access in sentence contexts: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Memory and Language 92, 217–233. doi: 10.1016/j.jml.2016.06.010CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemhöfer, K, & Dijkstra, T (2004) Recognizing cognates and interlingual homographs: Effects of code similarity in language-specific and language generalized lexical decision tasks. Memory & Cognition 32, 533–550. doi:10.3758/BF03195845CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemhöfer, K, Huestegge, L, & Mulder, K (2018) Another cup of TEE? The processing of second language near-cognates in first language reading. Language, Cognition & Neuroscience 33, 968–991. doi:10.1080/23273798.2018.1433863CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Libben, MR, & Titone, DA (2009) Bilingual lexical access in context: Evidence from eye movements during reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 35, 381–390. doi: 10.1037/a00114875Google ScholarPubMed
Luke, S.G. (2017) Evaluating significance in linear mixed-effects models in R. Behavior Research Methods 49, 1494–1502. doi: 10.3758/s13428-016-0809-yCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Martin-Rhee, MM, & Bialystok, E (2008) The development of two types of inhibitory control in monolingual and bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 11, 81–93. doi:10.1037/t67362-000CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mercier, J, Pivneva, I, & Titone, D (2016) The role of prior language context on bilingual spoken word processing: Evidence from the visual world task. Bilingualism: Language & Cognition 19, 376–399.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
New, B, Pallier, C, Brysbaert, M, & Ferrand, L (2004) Lexique 2: A New French Lexical Database. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers 36 (3), 516–524. http://www.lexique.orgCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newman, RL, & Connolly, JF (2004) Determining the role of phonology in silent reading using event-related brain potentials. Cognitive Brain Research 21, 94–105. doi:10.1016/j.cogbrainres.2004.05.006CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Newman, RL, Jared, D, & Haigh, CA (2012) Does phonology play a role when skilled readers read high-frequency words? Evidence from ERPs. Language and Cognitive Processes 27, 1361–1384. doi:10.1080/01690965.2011.603932CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Niznikiewicz, M, & Squires, NK (1996) Phonological processing and the role of strategy in silent reading: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. Brain and Language 52, 342–364. doi:10.1006/brln.1996.0016CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pivneva, I, Mercier, J, & Titone, D (2014) Executive control modulates cross-language lexical activation during L2 reading: Evidence from eye movements. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory & Cognition 40, 787–796. doi:10.1037/a0035583Google ScholarPubMed
Prior, A, Degani, T, Awawdy, S, Yassin, R, & Korem, N (2017) Is susceptibility to cross-language interference domain specific? Cognition 165, 10–25. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.04.006CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rayner, K, Pollatsek, A, & Binder, KS (1998) Phonological codes and eye movements in reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 24, 476–497. doi: 10.1037/0278-7393.24.2.476Google ScholarPubMed
Savill, N, Lindell, A, Booth, A, West, G, & Thierry, G (2011) Literate humans sound out words during silent reading. NeuroReport: For Rapid Communication of Neuroscience Research 22, 116–120. doi:10.1097/WNR.0b013e328342ed27CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schwartz, AI, & Kroll, JF (2006) Bilingual lexical activation in sentence context. Journal of Memory and Language 55, 197–212. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2006.03.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schotter, ER (2013) Synonyms provide semantic preview benefit in English. Journal of Memory and Language 69, 619–633. doi: 10.1016/j.jml.2013.09.002CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sunderman, G, & Fancher, E (2013) Lexical access in bilinguals and second language learners. In Schwieter, J.W. (Ed.), Innovative research and practices in second language acquisition and bilingualism (pp. 267–286). Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Titone, D, Libben, M, Mercier, J, Whitford, V, & Pivneva, I (2011) Bilingual lexical access during L1 sentence reading: The effects of L2 knowledge, semantic constraint, and L1-L2 intermixing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition 37, 1412–1431. doi: 10.1037/a0024492Google ScholarPubMed
Titone, D, Pivneva, I, Sheikh, N, Webb, N, & Whitford, V (2015) Doubling down on multifactorial approaches to the study of bilingualism and executive control. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 18, 43–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Titone, D, Whitford, V, Lijewska, A, & Itzhak, I (2016) Bilingualism, executive control, and eye movement measures of reading: A selective review and re-analysis of bilingual vs. multilingual reading data (pp. 11–46). In Schwieter, J (Ed.), Cognitive control and consequences in the multilingual mind. Amsterdam, Netherlands: John Benjamins Publishing Company.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torgesen, JK, Wagner, RK, & Rashotte, CA (1999) Test of Word Reading Efficiency. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.Google Scholar
van Assche, E, Drieghe, D, Duyck, W, Welvaert, M, & Hartsuiker, RJ (2011) The influence of semantic constraints on bilingual word recognition during sentence reading. Journal of Memory and Language 64, 88–107. doi:10.1016/j.jml.2010.08.006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Orden, GC (1987) A ROWS is a ROSE: Spelling, sound, and reading. Memory & Cognition 15, 181–198. doi:10.3758/BF03197716CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Orden, GC, Johnston, JC, & Hale, BL (1988) Word identification in reading proceeds from spelling to sound to meaning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 14, 371–386. doi:10.1037/0278-7393.14.3.371Google ScholarPubMed
van Wijnendaele, I, & Brysbaert, M (2002) Visual word recognition in bilinguals: Phonological priming from the second to the first language. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance 28, 616–627. doi: 10.1037/0096-1523.28.3.616Google ScholarPubMed
Whitford, V, & Luk, G (in press) Comparing executive functions in monolinguals and bilinguals: Considerations on participant characteristics and statistical assumptions in current research. In Sekerina, I, Valian, V, & Spradlin, L (Eds.), Bilingualism and executive function: An interdisciplinary approach (pp. 1–30). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Whitford, V, Pivneva, I, & Titone, D (2016) Eye movement methods to investigate bilingual reading. In Heredia, RR, Altarriba, J, & Cieślicka, AB (Eds.), Methods in bilingual reading comprehension research (pp. 183–212). New York, NY: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ziegler, JC, Benraïss, A, & Besson, M (1999) From print to meaning: An electrophysiological investigation of the role of phonology in accessing meaning. Psychophysiology 36, 775–785. doi:10.1017/S0048577299980952CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed