Publication Date
1-1-2008
Document Type
Article
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.
Recommended Citation
Ana I. Schwartz and Ana B. Areas Da Luz Fontes. "Cross-language mediated priming: Effects of context and lexical relationship" Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 11 (2008): 106-129. Available at: http://works.bepress.com/ana_schwartz/3
Publication Title
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition
Volume
11
Included in
Cognitive Psychology Commons, First and Second Language Acquisition Commons, Psycholinguistics and Neurolinguistics Commons
