Freeman Max R, Marian Viorica
St. John's University.
Northwestern University.
Stud Second Lang Acquis. 2022 Jul;44(3):759-787. doi: 10.1017/S027226312100053X. Epub 2021 Sep 6.
A bilingual's language system is highly interactive. When hearing a second language (L2), bilinguals access native-language (L1) words that share sounds across languages. In the present study, we examine whether input modality and L2 proficiency moderate the extent to which bilinguals activate L1 phonotactic constraints (i.e., rules for combining speech sounds) during L2 processing. Eye-movements of English monolinguals and Spanish-English bilinguals were tracked as they searched for a target English word in a visual display. On critical trials, displays included a target that conflicted with the Spanish vowel-onset rule (e.g., ), as well as a competitor containing the potentially-activated 'e' onset (e.g., ). The rule violation was processed either in the visual modality (Experiment 1) or audio-visually (Experiment 2). In both experiments, bilinguals with lower L2 proficiency made more eye movements to competitors than fillers. Findings suggest that bilinguals who have lower L2 proficiency access L1 phonotactic constraints during L2 visual word processing with and without auditory input of the constraint-conflicting structure (e.g., ). We conclude that the interactivity between a bilingual's two languages is not limited to words that share form across languages, but also extends to sub-lexical, rule-based structures.
双语者的语言系统具有高度的交互性。在听到第二语言（L2）时，双语者会激活跨语言共享语音的母语（L1）词汇。在本研究中，我们考察了输入方式和L2熟练程度是否会调节双语者在L2处理过程中激活L1音位结构限制（即语音组合规则）的程度。在视觉显示中搜索目标英语单词时，我们追踪了英语单语者和西班牙-英语双语者的眼动情况。在关键试验中，显示内容包括与西班牙语元音起始规则相冲突的目标（例如 ），以及包含可能被激活的“e”起始的竞争项（例如 ）。违反规则的情况通过视觉方式处理（实验1）或视听方式处理（实验2）。在两个实验中，L2熟练程度较低的双语者看向竞争项的眼动次数都多于填充项。研究结果表明，L2熟练程度较低的双语者在L2视觉单词处理过程中，无论是否有与规则冲突结构的听觉输入（例如 ），都会激活L1音位结构限制。我们得出结论，双语者两种语言之间的交互性不仅限于跨语言共享形式的单词，还扩展到了基于规则的次词汇结构。
