Exploring the Second Language Mental Lexicon

Second language (L2) sentence processing research studies how adult L2 learners understand sentences in real time. I review how L2 sentence processing differs from monolingual first-language (L1) processing and outline major findings and approaches. Three interacting factors appear to mandate L1–L2 differences: ( a) capacity restrictions in the ability to integrate information in an L2; ( b) L1–L2 differences in the weighting of cues, the timing of their application, and the efficiency of their retrieval; and ( c) variation in the utility functions of predictive processing. Against this backdrop, I outline a novel paradigm of interlanguage processing, which examines bilingual features of L2 processing, such as bilingual language systems, nonselective access to all grammars, and processing to learn an L2. Interlanguage processing goes beyond the traditional framing of L2 sentence processing as an incomplete form of monolingual processing and reconnects the field with current approaches to grammar acquisition and the bilingual mental lexicon.

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The Bilingual Mental Lexicon and Lemmatic Transfer in Second Language Learning

English Language Teaching and Linguistics Studies ◽

10.22158/eltls.v2n3p43 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 (3) ◽

pp. p43

Author(s):

Longxing Wei

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Argument Structure ◽

Mental Lexicon ◽

Language Transfer ◽

L1 Transfer ◽

Abstract Approach ◽

Lexical Structure ◽

L2 Learning ◽

Predicate Argument Structure

There have been numerous studies of first Language (L1) transfer in second Language (L2) learning. Various models have been proposed to explore the sources of language transfer and have also caused many controversies over the nature of language transfer and its effects on interlanguage. Different from most previous studies remaining at a surface level of observation, this study proposes an abstract approach, which is abstract because it goes beyond any superficial observation and description by exploring the nature and activity of the bilingual mental lexicon in L2 learning. This approach adopts the Bilingual Lemma Activation Model (BLAM) (Wei, 2006a, 2006b) and tests its crucial assumptions and claims: The bilingual mental lexicon does not simply contain lexemes but abstract entries, called “lemmas”, about them; lemmas in the bilingual mental lexicon are language-specific; language-specific lemmas in the bilingual mental lexicon are in contact in L2 learning, lemmas underlying L1 abstract lexical structure may replace those underlying L2 abstract lexical structure. Lemmas in the bilingual mental lexicon are about three levels of abstract lexical structure: lexical-conceptual structure, predicate-argument structure, and morphological realization patterns. The typical instances of L1 lemma transfer in L2 learning are discussed and explained in support of the BLAM.

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The idiom principle revisited

10.26686/wgtn.13670650 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Anna Siyanova ◽

R Martinez

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Mental Lexicon ◽

Present Review ◽

Future Research ◽

Formulaic Language ◽

Holistic View ◽

Oxford University ◽

Practical Implications ◽

Oxford University Press

© 2014 Oxford University Press 2014. John Sinclair's Idiom Principle famously posited that most texts are largely composed of multi-word expressions that 'constitute single choices' in the mental lexicon. At the time that assertion was made, little actual psycholinguistic evidence existed in support of that holistic, 'single choice', view of formulaic language. In the intervening years, a number of studies have shown that multi-word expressions are indeed processed differently from novel phrases. This processing advantage, however, does not necessarily support the holistic view of formulaic language. The present review aims to bring together studies on the processing of multi-word expressions in a first and second language that have used a range of psycholinguistic techniques, and presents why such research is important. Practical implications and pathways for future research are discussed.

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An implicational Hierarchy of Morpheme Acquisition Order in second Language Learning

ITL - International Journal of Applied Linguistics ◽

10.2143/itl.139.0.2003199 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 139-140 ◽

pp. 77-100 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Longxin Wei

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Language Learning ◽

Second Language Learning ◽

Mental Lexicon ◽

Functional Level ◽

Language Data ◽

Acquisition Order ◽

Descriptive Level

Unlike most early second language morpheme acquisition studies which remained at a surface descriptive level, this paper provides the reasons for the natural morpheme acquisition order by characterizing morphemes based on how they are projected from the mental lexicon. Three types of morphemes are identified based on how they are activated: Morphemes directly elected at the lemma level are content morphemes, morphemes indirectly elected together with content morpheme heads are early system morphemes, and morphemes structurally assigned at the functional level are late system morphemes. It argues that the levels of morpheme activation, whether at the lemma level or at the fimctional level, determines the acquisition order. Based on the characterization of morphemes and the natural second language data, an irnplicational hierarchy of morpheme acquisition order in second language learning is proposed: content morphemes are acquired before system morphemes, and early system morphemes are acquired before late system morphemes. Unlike early second language morpheme acquisition order studies, this study not only identifies or describes the morpheme order itself but also provides some reasons for this order.

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Translation in Light of Bilingual Mental Lexicon: A Psycholinguistic Approach

International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature ◽

10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.7n.3p.165 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 165

Author(s):

Congmin Zhao

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Second Language Acquisition ◽

Language Acquisition ◽

Language Learners ◽

Language Use ◽

Second Language Learners ◽

First Language ◽

Mental Lexicon ◽

Insight Into

This paper gives insight into the translating process of second language learners in language use in light of the mechanism of bilingual mental lexicon. Structure and development of second language mental lexicon explains the existence of first language items and translation equivalents. Conversely translation can promote the construction of second language mental lexicon and ultimately second language acquisition.

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The second language lexicon: some evidence from university-level learners of French and German

Interlanguage studies bulletin (Utrecht) ◽

10.1177/026765839100700103 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

pp. 61-81 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

David Singleton ◽

David Little

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Lexical Processing ◽

Trinity College ◽

Mental Lexicon ◽

Pilot Phase ◽

Trinity College Dublin ◽

The Status ◽

University Level ◽

The Trinity ◽

The Way

A widely held view among psycholinguists is that the L2 mental lexicon is qualitatively different from the L, mental lexicon - more 'phonological' and more 'loosely organized'. In this paper we present some C-test-elicited data from the pilot phase of the Trinity College Dublin Modern Languages Project which call the above view into question. Our data suggest that the way in which words are processed depends not on the status (L1 or L2) of the language of which they are tokens, but rather on the degree of difficulty of the lexical task concerned. Our data further suggest that there is some measure of interaction between L, and L2 lexical processing.

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Applied linguistics

Language Teaching ◽

10.1017/s0261444807284289 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 40 (2) ◽

pp. 177-182

Keyword(s):

Second Language ◽

Cognitive Processes ◽

Applied Linguistics ◽

Language Planning ◽

Mental Lexicon ◽

Cambridge University ◽

Oxford University ◽

Discourse Processes ◽

Language Problems ◽

Oxford University Press

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