Bilingual semantic representation and lexical access

Temporal properties of words are defined by physiological, psychical, and language-specific factors. Lexical representations are assumed to be stored either in a morphologically decomposed form or in a conceptually non-decomposed form. We assumed that the duration of words with and without suffixes would refer to the route of their lexical access. Measured durations of Hungarian nouns with various lengths produced by 10 speakers in spontaneous utterances revealed significant differences, depending on the words’ morphological structures. Durations of monomorphemic nouns were shorter than those of multimorphemic nouns, irrespective of the number of syllables they contained. Our interpretation is that multimorphemic words are accessed decompositionally in spontaneous speech, meaning that stem activation of the semantic representation is followed by activation of one or more suffixes. Durational differences of monomorphemic and multimorphemic words were not stable across word lengths. The number of suffixes did not influence the words’ temporal patterns. Kokkuvõte. Mária Gósy ja Ákos Gocsál: Sufiksiga ja sufiksita sõnade ajaline struktuur spontaanses ungari keeles. Sõnade ajalised omadused sõltuvad füsioloogilistest, psühholoogilistest ja keelespetsiifilistest teguritest. Eelduste kohaselt on sõnad mentaalses leksikonis representeeritud kas morfeemideks analüüsituna või tervikmõistena. Uurimuses lähtuti eeldusest, et sufiksiga ja sufiksita sõnade kestus viitab sellele, kuidas juurdepääs neile toimub. Mõõdeti kümne kõneleja spontaansetes lausungites produtseeritud eri pikkusega ungari nimisõnade kestust. Ilmnes, et kestus sõltus oluliselt sõna morfoloogilisest ülesehitusest. Tüvisõnade kestus oli tuletiste omast lühem, sõltumata silpide arvust sõnas. Järelduseks saadi, et juurdepääs tuletistele toimub spontaanses kõnes osade kaupa: tüve semantilise representatsiooni aktiveerimisele järgneb sufiksi või sufiksite aktiveerimine. Tüvisõnade ja tuletiste kestuserinevused olid eri pikkusega sõnade puhul erinevad. Sufiksite arv sõna ajalist struktuuri ei mõjutanud. Märksõnad: kestus, nimisõnad, tüvisõnad ja tuletised, leksikaalne juurdepääs, spontaansed lausungid

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Lexical access in bilingual speakers: What's the (hard) problem?

Bilingualism Language and Cognition ◽

10.1017/s1366728906002501 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 153-166 ◽

Cited By ~ 106

Author(s):

MATTHEW FINKBEINER ◽

TAMAR H. GOLLAN ◽

ALFONSO CARAMAZZA

Keyword(s):

Lexical Access ◽

Semantic Representation ◽

Full Range ◽

Hard Problem ◽

Selection Mechanism ◽

Lexical Selection ◽

Full Account ◽

Bilingual Speakers ◽

Translation Equivalent ◽

The Hard Problem

Models of bilingual speech production generally assume that translation equivalent lexical nodes share a common semantic representation. Though this type of architecture is highly desirable on both theoretical and empirical grounds, it could create difficulty at the point of lexical selection. If two translation equivalent lexical nodes are activated to roughly equal levels every time that their shared semantic representation becomes activated, the lexical selection mechanism should find it difficult to “decide” between the two (the “hard problem”) – yet in some cases bilinguals benefit from the presence of a translation equivalent “competitor”. In this article, we review three models that have been proposed as solutions to the hard problem. Each of these models has difficulty accounting for the full range of findings in the literature but we suggest that these shortcomings stem from their acceptance of the assumption that lexical selection is competitive. We argue that without this assumption each proposal is able to provide a full account of the empirical findings. We conclude by suggesting that the simplest of these proposals should be rejected before more complicated models are considered.

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Cross-linguistic transfer and borrowing in bilinguals

Applied Psycholinguistics ◽

10.1017/s014271640707018x ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 28 (2) ◽

pp. 369-390 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

VIORICA MARIAN ◽

MARGARITA KAUSHANSKAYA

Keyword(s):

Lexical Access ◽

Language Production ◽

Semantic Representation ◽

The Other ◽

Grammatical Category ◽

Syntactic Structures ◽

Abstract Nouns ◽

Concrete Nouns ◽

Linguistic Transfer ◽

Language Environment

Cross-linguistic borrowing (overt use of words from the other language) and transfer (use of semantic or syntactic structures from the other language without active switching to that language) were examined during language production in Russian–English bilinguals. Grammatical category (noun/verb) and level of concreteness were found to influence language interaction. More cross-linguistic borrowings were found for nouns than for verbs and more cross-linguistic transfers were found for verbs than for nouns, suggesting that grammatical categories are differentially vulnerable to covert and overt language interaction. Moreover, concrete nouns and verbs were transferred more than abstract nouns and verbs, suggesting that level of concreteness influences lexical access in bilinguals. Overall, bilinguals transferred more when speaking their second and less proficient language and borrowed more when speaking their first and less recent language (especially if the described event took place in the other language). We suggest that language architecture (e.g., semantic representation, lexical access) and language environment influence the nature of cross-linguistic interaction.

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Associations and Dissociations: An Investigation of Lexical Access Deficits in Agrammatism and Anomia

Perspectives on Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders ◽

10.1044/nnsld15.4.19 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 15 (4) ◽

pp. 19-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jean K. Gordon

Keyword(s):

Lexical Access

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Lexical Access Problems Lead to Disfluencies in Speech

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000021 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 57 (3) ◽

pp. 169-177 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Robert J. Hartsuiker ◽

Lies Notebaert

Keyword(s):

Lexical Access ◽

Picture Naming ◽

Language Production ◽

Line Drawings ◽

Name Agreement ◽

Access Problems ◽

Agreement Condition

A picture naming experiment in Dutch tested whether disfluencies in speech can arise from difficulties in lexical access. Speakers described networks consisting of line drawings and paths connecting these drawings, and we manipulated picture name agreement. Consistent with our hypothesis, there were more pauses and more self-corrections in the low name agreement condition than the high name agreement condition, but there was no effect on repetitions. We also considered determiner frequency. There were more self-corrections and more repetitions when the picture name required the less frequent (neuter-gender) determiner “het” than the more frequent (common-gender) determiner “de”. These data suggest that difficulties in distinct stages of language production result in distinct patterns of disfluencies.

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