Abstract
This study explored the organization of the multilingual lexicon in L3 learners of Japanese from an L1 Mandarin Chinese background. Using a masked-priming paradigm, it examined whether native-language translations of Japanese words facilitated the recognition of native-morpheme hiragana words and katakana-script loanwords to a similar degree. Participants performed a lexical decision task on a series of hiragana and katakana words, which were preceded by three prime types: noncognate translations, same-script duplicates, and unrelated words. Results showed an equal magnitude of priming from L1 translations for L3 Japanese targets in both scripts, suggesting that conceptual information is made rapidly available for word recognition via an L1 prime. However, priming in the same-script duplicate condition differed numerically between hiragana and katakana, indicating that lower-familiarity katakana loanwords are not activated as rapidly as words in the more-familiar hiragana script. Findings are discussed in relation to models of the multilingual lexicon.
Appendices
Appendix A Japanese target words
| Hiragana targets | Katakana targets | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frequency (per million) | Frequency (per million) | Semantic distance | Phonological distance | ||
| さかな | 99 | ホテル | 105 | 3 | 3 |
| あさって | 19 | ドライブ | 10 | 3 | 3 |
| うしろ | 73 | メール | 86 | 0 | 3 |
| いぬ | 182 | ゲーム | 42 | 2 | 3 |
| あし | 167 | テスト | 25 | 3 | 3 |
| かさ | 11 | シャツ | 12 | 3 | 3 |
| ぎゅうにゅう | 29 | コーヒー | 36 | 3 | 3 |
| きっぷ | 11 | シェフ | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| しごと | 562 | アメリカ | 234 | 3 | 3 |
| こうえん | 63 | ジュース | 11 | 3 | 3 |
| かわ | 82 | トイレ | 51 | 3 | 2 |
| おとうさん | 83 | ページ | 26 | 3 | 3 |
| きょうかしょ | 21 | コンサート | 17 | 3 | 3 |
| かばん | 11 | ドア | 54 | 3 | 3 |
| ともだち | 349 | ピザ | 9 | 3 | 3 |
| おかし | 42 | アジア | 30 | 3 | 3 |
| てがみ | 80 | キャンプ | 22 | 3 | 3 |
| おふろ | 42 | トマト | 18 | 3 | 3 |
| いま | 1760 | ゴールド | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| おじいさん | 43 | レストラン | 34 | 3 | 2 |
| くるま | 271 | サッカー | 37 | 3 | 3 |
| おとな | 94 | デパート | 26 | 3 | 1 |
| かいもの | 50 | バス | 79 | 3 | 3 |
| くつ | 30 | サークル | 25 | 1 | 3 |
| にく | 48 | テレビ | 174 | 3 | 1 |
| おんがく | 142 | ペン | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| りんご | 27 | ハンバーガー | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| あさごはん | 5 | テニス | 29 | 3 | 3 |
| うみ | 171 | ビール | 36 | 3 | 3 |
| えんぴつ | 13 | メニュー | 28 | 3 | 3 |
| じてんしゃ | 82 | ギター | 29 | 3 | 3 |
| おもちゃ | 16 | スーパー | 42 | 3 | 1 |
| えいが | 139 | アパート | 29 | 3 | 1 |
| かぞく | 209 | ケーキ | 20 | 3 | 3 |
| がっこう | 253 | カメラ | 33 | 3 | 3 |
| れきし | 143 | ノート | 19 | 0 | 2 |
| となり | 82 | グレー | 5 | 3 | 3 |
| あたま | 227 | ホームステイ | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| ゆうびんきょく | 14 | スキー | 42 | 3 | 3 |
| にもつ | 46 | パーティー | 15 | 3 | 3 |
| しゅうまつ | 16 | ワイン | 40 | 3 | 3 |
| あなた | 336 | ストレス | 55 | 3 | 3 |
| おみやげ | 20 | カーテン | 11 | 3 | 3 |
| やきゅう | 51 | クラス | 48 | 3 | 3 |
| なまえ | 215 | デート | 12 | 3 | 3 |
Appendix B: Nonword targets and Mandarin Chinese primes
| Hiragana nonwords | Katakana nonwords | Unrelated Chinese primes | Chinese translations of hiragana targets | Chinese translations of katakana targets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| でんた | デンタ | 半天 | 后天 | 公寓 |
| つろ | ツロ | 帮助 | 早饭 | 东亚 |
| あじきっど | アジキッド | 杯子 | 脚 | 美国 |
| こほ | コホ | 别人 | 头 | 窗帘 |
| くっと | クット | 成绩 | 你 | 摄影机 |
| じいる | ジール | 大夫 | 后 | 班级 |
| せるた | セルタ | 道理 | 电影 | 吉他 |
| あとす | アスト | 地方 | 铅笔 | 游戏 |
| こうへ | コーヘ | 东西 | 爷爷 | 灰 |
| ちいこ | チーコ | 发烧 | 大人 | 门 |
| もぶるう | モブルー | 翻译 | 纪念品 | 咖啡 |
| くらり | クラリ | 方法 | 购物 | 音乐会 |
| ぼきて | ポキテ | 放假 | 家族 | 主厨 |
| ぶうぼ | ブーボ | 辅导 | 手包 | 衬衫 |
| びす | ビス | 改变 | 票 | 滑雪 |
| とうぎい | トーギー | 干部 | 公园 | 约会 |
| もっけい | モッケー | 工人 | 牛奶 | 测试 |
| でむ | デム | 故事 | 汽车 | 电视 |
| えいね | エイネ | 国家 | 雨伞 | 厕所 |
| おぐれい | オグレー | 化学 | 鱼 | 笔记 |
| ばうんぞ | バウンゾ | 基础 | 信件 | 晚会 |
| びゅうす | ビュース | 技术 | 朋友 | 巴士 |
| べいとん | ベートン | 掌握 | 旁边 | 面包 |
| るまていれ | ルマテーレ | 政府 | 历史 | 披萨 |
| なほ | ナホ | 主意 | 现在 | 页 |
| まてのぶ | マテノブ | 邮票 | 教科书 | 汉堡 |
| しいれ | シーレ | 事情 | 邮局 | 宾馆 |
| ひつか | ヒツカ | 确实 | 鞋子 | 电邮 |
| ぞんく | ゾンク | 排球 | 父亲 | 酒 |
| べんよん | ベンヨン | 空气 | 海洋 | 餐厅 |
| りいぬ | リーヌ | 经理 | 犬 | 菜谱 |
| りふさ | リフサ | 裤子 | 浴 | 留宿 |
| さとず | サトズ | 太阳 | 音乐 | 压力 |
| にいめと | ニーメト | 兴趣 | 学校 | 商城 |
| ずさ | ズサ | 要求 | 自行车 | 番茄 |
| なゆうじ | ナユージ | 运动 | 工作 | 超市 |
| れきそ | レキソ | 照片 | 周末 | 金色 |
| るけい | ルケー | 作业 | 名字 | 俱乐部 |
| まあび | マービ | 颜色 | 肉类 | 蛋糕 |
| きっぺ | キッベ | 星期 | 行李 | 网球 |
| きょたば | キョタベ | 桌子 | 糖果 | 野营 |
| おずく | オズク | 冰箱 | 玩具 | 啤酒 |
| みぬてい | ミヌテー | 厨房 | 川 | 开车 |
| なじゃ | ナジャ | 黑板 | 棒球 | 足球 |
| ほうこじょり | ホーコジョリ | 感冒 | 苹果 | 果汁 |
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Article note
Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the 11th International Symposium on Bilingualism and the 36th Second Language Research Forum. I sincerely thank Zihao Ji for assistance with stimulus creation, and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful feedback.
© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editors’ Notes
- Articles
- Connecting L1 and L2 acquisition: From the perspective of macro and micro narrative structure
- The influence of first language on referential expressions of Japanese language learners: A focus on narrative story by native Chinese and Korean speakers
- Constructing fluid relationships through language: A study of address terms in a Japanese drama and its pedagogical implications
- Vocabulary depends on topic, and so does grammar
- Word recognition in a language with multiple orthographies: A semantic masked-priming study of L1 Mandarin learners of L3 Japanese
- Book Reviews
- Masayoshi Shibatani, Shigeru Miyagawa, and Hisashi Noda: Handbook of Japanese Syntax
- Noun-Modifying Clause Constructions in Languages of Eurasia: Rethinking Theoretical and Geographical Boundaries
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editors’ Notes
- Articles
- Connecting L1 and L2 acquisition: From the perspective of macro and micro narrative structure
- The influence of first language on referential expressions of Japanese language learners: A focus on narrative story by native Chinese and Korean speakers
- Constructing fluid relationships through language: A study of address terms in a Japanese drama and its pedagogical implications
- Vocabulary depends on topic, and so does grammar
- Word recognition in a language with multiple orthographies: A semantic masked-priming study of L1 Mandarin learners of L3 Japanese
- Book Reviews
- Masayoshi Shibatani, Shigeru Miyagawa, and Hisashi Noda: Handbook of Japanese Syntax
- Noun-Modifying Clause Constructions in Languages of Eurasia: Rethinking Theoretical and Geographical Boundaries