Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:04:39.408Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The influence of proficiency and language combination on bilingual lexical access

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2018

JESSICA G. KASTENBAUM ,
LISA M. BEDORE ,
ELIZABETH D. PEÑA ,
LI SHENG ,
ILKNUR MAVIS ,
RAJANI SEBASTIAN-VAYTADDEN ,
GRAMA RANGAMANI ,
SOFIA VALLILA-ROHTER  and
SWATHI KIRAN
JESSICA G. KASTENBAUM
Affiliation:
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
LISA M. BEDORE
Affiliation:
Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
ELIZABETH D. PEÑA
Affiliation:
School of Education University of California Irvine, Irvine California
LI SHENG
Affiliation:
Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
ILKNUR MAVIS
Affiliation:
Univeristy of Anadolu, Turkey
RAJANI SEBASTIAN-VAYTADDEN
Affiliation:
Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
GRAMA RANGAMANI
Affiliation:
Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders, St Cloud State University, St Cloud, Minnesota
SOFIA VALLILA-ROHTER
Affiliation:
Department of Communication Disorders, Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professionals, Boston, Massachusetts
SWATHI KIRAN*
Affiliation:
Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
*
Address for correspondence: Swathi Kiran, Speech Language and Hearing Sciences, Boston University Sargent College, 635 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The present study examines the influence of language proficiency and language combination on bilingual lexical access using category fluency in 109 healthy speakers. Participants completed a category fluency task in each of their languages in three main categories (animals, clothing, and food), each with two subcategories, as well as a language use questionnaire assessing their proficiency. Five language combinations were examined (Hindi–English, Kannada–English, Mandarin–English, Spanish–English, and Turkish–English). Multivariate analyses of variance revealed that the average number of correct items named in the category fluency task across the three main categories varied across the different groups only in English and not the other language. Further, results showed that language exposure composite (extracted from the questionnaire using a principal component analysis) significantly affected the average number of items named across the three main categories. Overall, these results demonstrate the effects of particular language combinations on bilingual lexical access and provide important insights into the role of proficiency on access.

Keywords

lexical accessbilingualcategory fluencyproficiencylanguage
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , March 2019 , pp. 300 - 330
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Altarriba, J. (2003). Does cariño equal liking? A theoretical approach to conceptual nonequivalence between languages. International Journal of Bilingualism, 3, 305–322.Google Scholar
Bethlehem, D., de Picciotto, J., & Watt, N. (2003). Assessment of verbal fluency in bilingual Zulu English speakers. South African Journal of Psychology, 33 (4), 236–240.Google Scholar
Bice, K., & Kroll, J. F. (2015). Native language change during early stages of second language learning. Neuroreport, 26 (16), 966–971. http://doi.org/10.1097/WNR.0000000000000453Google Scholar
Blumenfeld, H. K., Bobb, S. C., & Marian, V. (2016). The role of language proficiency, cognate status and word frequency in the assessment of Spanish–English bilinguals' verbal fluency. International journal of speech-language pathology, 18 (2), 190–201. doi:10.3109/17549507.2015.1081288Google Scholar
Carneiro, P., Albuquerque, P., & Fernandez, A. (2008). Portuguese category norms for children. Behavior Research Methods, 40 (1), 177–182.Google Scholar
de Groot, A. (1992). Determinants of word translation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 18, 1001–1018.Google Scholar
de Groot, A. M. B., Dannenburg, L., & Vanhell, J. G. (1994). Forward and Backward Word Translation by Bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language, 33 (5), 600–629. doi:https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1994.1029Google Scholar
Gollan, T. H., Montoya, R. I., & Werner, G. A. (2002). Semantic and letter fluency in Spanish–English bilinguals. Neuropsychology, 16 (4), 562–576.Google Scholar
Heredia, R. R. (1996). Bilingual memory: A re-revised version of the heirarchical model of bilingual memory. (10), University of California San Diego, La Jolla. (3)Google Scholar
Hernandez, A. E., & Li, P. (2007). Age of acquisition: its neural and computational mechanisms. Psychological Bull. 133 (4):638–650.Google Scholar
Jared, D., & Kroll, J. F. (2001). Do bilinguals activate phonological representations in one or both of their languages when naming words? Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 2–31.Google Scholar
Kamat, R., Ghate, M., Gollan, T. H., Meyer, R., Vaida, F., Heaton, R. K., Letendre, S., Franklin, D., Alexander, T., Grant, I., Mehendale, S., Marcotte, T. D., & the HIV Neurobehavioral Research Program (HNRP) Group. (2012). Effects of Marathi-Hindi bilingualism on neuropsychological performance. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 18 (2), 305–313.Google Scholar
Kempler, D., Teng, E. L., Dick, M., Taussig, I. M., & Davis, D. S. (1998). The effects of age, education, and ethnicity on verbal fluency. Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, 4 (6), 531–538.Google Scholar
Kiran, S., Peña, E., Bedore, L., & Sheng, L. (2010). Evaluating the relationship between category generation and language use and proficiency. Paper presented at the Donostia Workshop on Neurobilingualism, San Sebastian, Spain.Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F., & Stewart, E. (1994). Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and Language, 33, 149–174.Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F., van Hell, J. G., Tokowicz, N., & Green, D. W. (2010). The Revised Hierarchical Model: A critical review and assessment. Bilingualism, Language and Cognition, 13 (3), 373–381. doi:10.1017/S136672891000009XGoogle Scholar
Kroll, J., Bobb, S., & Wodniecka, Z. (2006). Language selectivity is the exception, not the rule: Arguments against a fixed locus of language selection in bilingual speech. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 9 (02), 119–135.Google Scholar
Kohnert, K. J., Hernandez, A. E., & Bates, E. (1998). BNT norms for Spanish and English. Brain and Language, 65, 422–440.Google Scholar
Li, P., Sepanski, S., & Zhao, X. (2006). Language history questionnaire: A web-based interface for bilingual research. Behav Res Methods, 38 (2), 202–210.Google Scholar
Linck, J. A., Kroll, J. F., & Sunderman, G. (2009). Losing access to the native language while immersed in a second language evidence for the role of inhibition in second-language learning. Psychological Science, 20 (12), 1507–1515. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02480.xGoogle Scholar
Luo, L., Luk, G., & Bialystok, E. (2010). Effect of language proficiency and executive control on verbal fluency performance in bilinguals. Cognition, 114 (1), 29–41. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2009.08.014Google Scholar
Marian, V., Blumenfeld, H. K., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2007). The Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire (LEAP-Q): assessing language profiles in bilinguals and multilinguals. J Speech Lang Hear Res, 50 (4), 940–967. doi:50/4/940 [pii]Google Scholar
Pekkala, S., Goral, M., Hyun, J., Obler, L. K., Erkinjuntti, T., & Albert, M. L. (2009). Semantic verbal fluency in two contrasting languages. Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 23 (6), 431–445. doi: 10.1080/02699200902839800Google Scholar
Poreh, A. M., & Schweiger, A. (2002). The effects of second-language acquisition on verbal fluency among elderly Israelis. CNS Spectrums, 7 (5), 377–386.Google Scholar
Roberts, P. M., & Le Dorze, G. (1997). Semantic organization, strategy use, and productivity in bilingual semantic verbal fluency. Brain and Language, 59 (3), 412–449.Google Scholar
Ronch, J., Cooper, R. L., & Fishman, J. A. (1969). Word naming and usage scores for a sample of Yiddish–English bilinguals. The Modern Language Journal, 53 (4), 232–235.Google Scholar
Rosselli, M., Ardila, A., Araujo, K., Weekes, V. A., Caracciolo, V., Padilla, M., & Solís, Ostrosky F. (2000). Verbal fluency and repetition skills in healthy older Spanish–English bilinguals. Applied Neuropsychology, 7 (1), 17–24.Google Scholar
Rosselli, M., Ardila, A., Salvatierra, J., Marquez, M., Matos, L., & Weekes, V. A. (2002). A cross-linguistic comparison of verbal fluency tests. International Journal of Neuroscience, 112, 759–776.Google Scholar
Rosselli, M., Tappen, R., Williams, C., Salvatierra, J., & Zoller, Y. (2009). Level of education and category fluency task among Spanish speaking elders: number of words, clustering, and switching strategies. Neuropsychology, development, and cognition. Section B, Aging, neuropsychology and cognition, 16 (6), 721–744. doi:10.1080/13825580902912739Google Scholar
Sholl, A., Sankaranarayanan, A., & Kroll, J. F. (1995). Transfer between picture naming and translation: A test of asymmetries in bilingual memory. Psychological Science, 6 (1), 45–49.Google Scholar
Sunderman, G., & Kroll, J. F. (2006). First language activation during second language lexical processing: An investigation of lexical form, meaning, and grammatical class. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28, 387–422.Google Scholar
Talamas, A., Kroll, J. F., & Dufour, R. (1999). Form related errors in second language learning: A preliminary stage in the acquisition of L2 vocabulary. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2, 45–58.Google Scholar
Taylor, K. I., Devereux, B. J., & Tyler, L. K. (2011). Conceptual structure: Towards an integrated neuro-cognitive account. Lang Cogn Process, 26 (9), 1368–1401. doi:10.1080/01690965.2011.568227Google Scholar
Tombaugh, T. N., Kozak, J., & Rees, L. (1999). Normative data stratified by age and education for two measures of verbal fluency: FAS and animal naming. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 14 (2), 167–177.Google Scholar