The influence of contextual cues on representations in the mental lexicon for bilinguals
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Kalinka Timmer
Abstract
The strength of each representation in the mental lexicon depends on factors such as word frequency and conceptual concreteness. For bilinguals, each concept has two lexical representations, and so representational strength also depends on the salience of first- and second-language activation and the dominance of each language. The relative salience of the dominant language is a critical reason for observed asymmetric language switching costs, but the language context can reverse this effect. Therefore, context is another important influence on the relative level of activation in the mental lexicon, a factor that is often overlooked in the literature. Here we explore the contribution of contextual cues on salience of representations in the mental lexicon for bilinguals.
Abstract
The strength of each representation in the mental lexicon depends on factors such as word frequency and conceptual concreteness. For bilinguals, each concept has two lexical representations, and so representational strength also depends on the salience of first- and second-language activation and the dominance of each language. The relative salience of the dominant language is a critical reason for observed asymmetric language switching costs, but the language context can reverse this effect. Therefore, context is another important influence on the relative level of activation in the mental lexicon, a factor that is often overlooked in the literature. Here we explore the contribution of contextual cues on salience of representations in the mental lexicon for bilinguals.
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
