The bilingual mental lexicon
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Ladan Ghazi-Saidi
Abstract
Several theoretical accounts have been developed to describe the nature of the bilingual mental lexicon. In the last decades, functional magnetic resonance studies have provided some insight into the neural basis of lexical processing in healthy bilinguals and in bilinguals with aphasia. This chapter will discuss the bilingual mental lexicon as a complex knowledge system, which behaves dynamically as a function of various factors, including L1 and L2 proficiency level (exposure and use), psycholinguistic (semantic and phonological) characteristics of words within and across the spoken languages, learning methods, and the environment where learning happens (formal vs. informal), which in turn have an impact on the type of memory processing (implicit vs. explicit) involved in word storage. The bilingual mental lexicon is revealed as even more complex when phonological and semantic similarities and differences within and across languages are taken into account.
Abstract
Several theoretical accounts have been developed to describe the nature of the bilingual mental lexicon. In the last decades, functional magnetic resonance studies have provided some insight into the neural basis of lexical processing in healthy bilinguals and in bilinguals with aphasia. This chapter will discuss the bilingual mental lexicon as a complex knowledge system, which behaves dynamically as a function of various factors, including L1 and L2 proficiency level (exposure and use), psycholinguistic (semantic and phonological) characteristics of words within and across the spoken languages, learning methods, and the environment where learning happens (formal vs. informal), which in turn have an impact on the type of memory processing (implicit vs. explicit) involved in word storage. The bilingual mental lexicon is revealed as even more complex when phonological and semantic similarities and differences within and across languages are taken into account.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Author information ix
- Prologue xiii
- The dynamic lexicon 1
- Languages without borders 7
- The bilingual lexicon 27
- Mechanisms underlying word learning in second language acquisition 49
- The bilingual mental lexicon 73
- Non-selective language activation and bilingualism as the default mental lexicon 103
- The influence of contextual cues on representations in the mental lexicon for bilinguals 123
- When cognate status produces no benefits 143
- Lexical retrieval difficulty in bilingual speakers with and without pathology 181
- Morphological integration and the bilingual lexicon 197
- Morphological processing in old-age bilinguals 217
- Index 249
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents vii
- Author information ix
- Prologue xiii
- The dynamic lexicon 1
- Languages without borders 7
- The bilingual lexicon 27
- Mechanisms underlying word learning in second language acquisition 49
- The bilingual mental lexicon 73
- Non-selective language activation and bilingualism as the default mental lexicon 103
- The influence of contextual cues on representations in the mental lexicon for bilinguals 123
- When cognate status produces no benefits 143
- Lexical retrieval difficulty in bilingual speakers with and without pathology 181
- Morphological integration and the bilingual lexicon 197
- Morphological processing in old-age bilinguals 217
- Index 249
