Cover not available

In:Cross-language Influences in Bilingual Processing and Second Language Acquisition:
Edited by Irina Elgort, Anna Siyanova-Chanturia and Marc Brysbaert
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 16] 2023
► pp. 230–261

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload Book PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload Book EPUB
authorization required

Chapter 10
Cross-language influences on morphological processing in bilinguals

ORCiD logo with link | Macquarie University | Macquarie University |
ORCiD logo with link | Macquarie University | Macquarie University
Published online: 1 May 2023
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.16.10kah
Abstract
Several decades of reading research in bilinguals have revealed evidence for cross-language influences on the visual recognition of simple words (e.g., farm). However, comparatively little is known about cross-language transfer mechanisms involved when reading morphologically complex words (e.g., farmer or farmhouse). In this chapter, we provide a review of studies examining the processing of affixed and compound words in bilinguals, with a particular focus on studies directly targeting cross-language transfer. The key findings support the idea that bilinguals rapidly and simultaneously activate the morphological features in both of their languages during the early, automatic stages of visual word recognition. Implications for theoretical models of morphological processing in bilinguals and future directions are discussed.
Article outline
  • 1.Within-L1 and within-L2 morphological processing
  • 2.Theories of cross-language transfer
  • 3.Cross-language morphological processing
    • 3.1The locus of cross-language morphological transfer in visual word recognition
    • 3.2Masked morphological translation priming
    • 3.3Semantically independent morphological translation priming
    • 3.4Hidden morpheme repetition priming effects
  • 4.Theoretical implications and future directions
    • 4.1Mechanisms of cross-language morphological transfer
    • 4.2Theoretical implications for models of cross-language transfer
    • 4.3The status of stems and affixes in cross-language transfer
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Notes
  • References
References (82)
References
Alkhofi, A. (2020). Cross-Language Morphological Activation: The Case of Arabic-English Bilinguals. (Doctoral Dissertation). The University of New Mexico.
Amenta, S., & Crepaldi, D. (2012). Morphological processing as we know it: An analytical review of morphological effects in visual word identification. Frontiers in Psychology, 3, 1–12. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Andrews, S., & Lo, S. (2012). Not all skilled readers have cracked the code: Individual differences in masked form priming. J Exp Psychol Learn Mem Cogn, 38(1), 152–163. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beyersmann, E., Casalis, S., Ziegler, J. C., & Grainger, J. (2015). Language proficiency and morpho-orthographic segmentation. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22, 1054–1061. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beyersmann, E., Cavalli, E., Casalis, S., & Colé, P. (2016). Embedded stem priming effects in prefixed and suffixed pseudowords. Scientific Studies of Reading, 20(3), 220–230. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beyersmann, E., & Grainger, J. (2023). The role of embedded words and morphemes in reading. In D. Crepaldi (Ed.), Linguistic Morphology in the Mind and Brain. Routledge. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beyersmann, E., Grainger, J., & Castles, A. (2019). Embedded stems as a bootstrapping mechanism for morphological parsing during reading development. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 182, 196–210. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Beyersmann, E., Ziegler, J. C., Castles, A., Coltheart, M., Kezilas, Y., & Grainger, J. (2016). Morpho-orthographic segmentation without semantics. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 23, 533–539. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Birdsong, D. (2006). Age and second language acquisition and processing: A selective overview: Age and L2 acquisition and processing. Language Learning, 56, 9–49. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bosch, S., Veríssimo, J., & Clahsen, H. (2019). Inflectional morphology in bilingual language processing: An age-of-acquisition study. Language Acquisition, 26(3), 339–360. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ceccagno, A. & Scalise, S. (2006). Classification, structure and headedness of Chinese compounds. Lingue e Linguaggio, 2, 233–260. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, B., Zhou, H., Gao, Y., & Dunlap, S. (2014). Cross-language translation priming asymmetry with Chinese-English bilinguals: A test of the sense model. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 43(3), 225–240. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chung, W., Park, M. -K., & Kim, S. Y. (2019). An electrophysiological investigation of translation and morphological priming in biscriptal bilinguals. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 51, 151–164. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ciaccio, L. A., & Clahsen, H. (2020). Variability and consistency in first and second language processing: A masked morphological priming study on prefixation and suffixation. Language Learning, 70(1), 103–136. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ciaccio, L. A., & Jacob, G. (2019). Native speakers like affixes, L2 speakers like letters? An overt visual priming study investigating the role of orthography in L2 morphological processing. PLoS ONE, 14(12), e0226482. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clahsen, H., & Felser, C. (2006). Grammatical processing in language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27(1), 3–42. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clahsen, H., Felser, C., Neubauer, K., Sato, M., & Silva, R. (2010). Morphological structure in native and nonnative language processing. Language Learning, 60(1), 21–43. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Clahsen, H., & Neubauer, K. (2010). Morphology, frequency, and the processing of derived words in native and non-native speakers. Lingua, 120(11), 2627–2637. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Comesaña, M., Bertin, P., Oliveira, H., Soares, A. P., Hernández-Cabrera, J. A., & Casalis, S. (2018). The impact of cognateness of word bases and suffixes on morpho-orthographic processing: A masked priming study with intermediate and high-proficiency Portuguese-English bilinguals. PLoS ONE, 13(3), e0193480. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coughlin, C. E., & Tremblay, A. (2015). Morphological decomposition in native and non-native French speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(3), 524–542. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dal Maso, S., & Giraudo, H. (2014). Morphological processing in L2 Italian: Evidence from a masked priming study. Lingvisticae Investigationes, 37(2), 322–337. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davis, C., Sánchez-Casas, R., García-Albea, J. E., Guasch, M., Molero, M., & Ferré, P. (2010). Masked translation priming: Varying language experience and word type with Spanish–English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13(2), 137–155. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
De Grauwe, S., Lemhöfer, K., Willems, R. M., & Schriefers, H. (2014). L2 speakers decompose morphologically complex verbs: FMRI evidence from priming of transparent derived verbs. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 8. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Diependaele, K., Duñabeitia, J. A., Morris, J., & Keuleers, E. (2011). Fast morphological effects in first and second language word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 64, 344–358. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T., Moscoso del Prado Martín, F., Schulpen, B., Schreuder, R., & Baayen, H. (2005). A roommate in cream: Morphological family size effects on interlingual homograph recognition. Language & Cognitive Processes, 20(1/2), 7–41. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T., & van Heuven, W. J. B. (1998). The BIA model and bilingual word recognition. In Localist connectionist approaches to human cognition (pp. 189–225). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2002). The architecture of the bilingual word recognition system: From identification to decision. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 5(3), 175–197. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T., Wahl, A., Buytenhuijs, F., Van Halem, N., Al-Jibouri, Z., De Korte, M., & Rekké, S. (2019). Multilink: A computational model for bilingual word recognition and word translation. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 22(04), 657–679. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duñabeitia, J. A., Dimitropoulou, M., Morris, J., & Diependaele, K. (2013). The role of form in morphological priming: Evidence from bilinguals. Language and Cognitive Processes, 28(7), 967–987. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Duñabeitia, J. A., Laka, I., Perea, M., & Carreiras, M. (2009). Is Milkman a superhero like Batman? Constituent morphological priming in compound words. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 21(4), 615–640. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Feldman, L. B., Kostić, A., Basnight-Brown, D. M., Đurđević, D. F., & Pastizzo, M. J. (2010). Morphological facilitation for regular and irregular verb formations in native and non-native speakers: Little evidence for two distinct mechanisms. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13(2), 119–135. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fiorentino, R., & Fund-Reznicek, E. (2009). Masked morphological priming of compound constituents. The Mental Lexicon, 4(2), 159–193. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fiorentino, R., Politzer-Ahles, S., Pak, N. S., Martínez-García, M. T., & Coughlin, C. (2016). Dissociating morphological and form priming with novel complex word primes: Evidence from masked priming, overt priming, and event-related potentials. The Mental Lexicon, 10(3), 413–434. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
González Alonso, J., Baquero Castellanos, S., & Müller, O. (2016). Masked constituent priming of English compounds in native and non-native speakers. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 31(8), 1038–1054. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gor, K., & Jackson, S. (2013). Morphological decomposition and lexical access in a native and second language: A nesting doll effect. Language and Cognitive Processes, 28(7), 1065–1091. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grainger, J., & Beyersmann, E. (2017). Edge-aligned embedded word activation initiates morpho-orthographic segmentation. In B. H. Ross (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation (pp. 285–317). Elsevier.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Grainger, J., Colé, P., & Segui, J. (1991). Masked morphological priming in visual word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language & Speech, 30, 370–384. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Heyer, V., & Clahsen, H. (2015). Late bilinguals see a scan in scanner AND in scandal: Dissecting formal overlap from morphological priming in the processing of derived words. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(3), 543–550. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Isel, F., Baumgaertner, A., Thrän, J., Meisel, J. M., & Büchel, C. (2010). Neural circuitry of the bilingual mental lexicon: Effect of age of second language acquisition. Brain and Cognition, 72(2), 169–180. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jacob, G., Heyer, V., & Veríssimo, J. (2018). Aiming at the same target: A masked priming study directly comparing derivation and inflection in the second language. International Journal of Bilingualism, 22(6), 619–637. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jasinska, K. K., & Petitto, L. A. (2013). How age of bilingual exposure can change the neural systems for language in the developing brain: A functional near infrared spectroscopy investigation of syntactic processing in monolingual and bilingual children. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 6, 87–101. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kahraman, H. (2022). Individual differences in the L1 and L2 processing of morphologically complex words (doctoral dissertation). METU.
Kahraman, H., & Kırkıcı, B. (2021). Letter transpositions and morphemic boundaries in the second language processing of derived words: An exploratory study of individual differences. Applied Psycholinguistics, 42(2), 417–446. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, S. Y., & Wang, M. (2014). The time-course of cross-language morphological activation in Korean-English bilinguals: Evidence from a masked priming experiment. Language Research, 50(1), 59–75.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kim, S. Y., Wang, M., & Ko, I. Y. (2011). The processing of derivational morphology in Korean–English bilingual readers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 14(4), 473–488. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kinoshita, S., & Lupker, S. J. (Eds.). (2003). Masked priming: The state of the art. Psychology Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kırkıcı, B., & Clahsen, H. (2013). Inflection and derivation in native and non-native language processing: Masked priming experiments on Turkish. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 16(4), 776–791. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ko, I. Y., & Wang, M. (2015). Reading compound words by adult Korean-English bilinguals. Writing Systems Research, 7(2), 202–219. Google Scholar logo with link to 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(2), 149–174. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lehtonen, M., & Laine, M. (2003). How word frequency affects morphological processing in monolinguals and bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 6(3), 213–225. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, J., & Taft, M. (2020). The processing of English prefixed words by Chinese-English bilinguals. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 42(1), 239–249. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, J., Taft, M., & Xu, J. (2017). The processing of English derived words by Chinese-English bilinguals. Language Learning, 67(4), 858–884. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Li, M., Jiang, N., & Gor, K. (2017). L1 and L2 processing of compound words: Evidence from masked priming experiments in English. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20(2), 384–402. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liu, X., Tu, L., Wang, J., Jiang, B., Gao, W., Pan, X., Li, M., Zhong, M., Zhu, Z., Niu, M., Li, Y., Zhao, L., Chen, X., Liu, C., Lu, Z., & Huang, R. (2017). Onset age of L2 acquisition influences language network in early and late Cantonese-Mandarin bilinguals. Brain and Language, 174, 16–28. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Longtin, C. M., Segui, J., & Hallé, P. A. (2003). Morphological priming without morphological relationship. Language and Cognitive Processes, 18(3), 313–334. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McClelland, J. L., & Rumelhart, D. E. (1981). An Interactive Activation Model of Context Effects in Letter Perception: Part 1. An Account of Basic Findings. Psychological Review, 88(5), 375–407. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marslen-Wilson, W. D. (2007). Morphological processes in language comprehension. In M. G. Gaskell (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of psycholinguistics (pp. 174–194). Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Medeiros, J., & Duñabeitia, J. A. (2016). Not everybody sees the ness in the darkness: Individual differences in masked suffix priming. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Nakayama, M., Ida, K., & Lupker, S. J. (2016). Cross-script L2-L1 noncognate translation priming in lexical decision depends on L2 proficiency: Evidence from Japanese–English bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(5), 1001–1022. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Neubauer, K., & Clahsen, H. (2009). Decomposition of inflected words in a second language: An experimental study of German participles. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 31(3), 403–435. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Portin, M., Lehtonen, M., & Laine, M. (2007). Processing of inflected nouns in late bilinguals. Applied Psycholinguistics, 28(1), 135–156. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rastle, K., & Davis, M. H. (2008). Morphological decomposition based on the analysis of orthography. Language & Cognitive Processes, 23, 942–971. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Rastle, K., Davis, M. H., & New, B. (2004). The broth in my brother’s brothel: Morpho-orthographic segmentation in visual word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11, 1090–1098. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sabourin, L., Brien, C., & Burkholder, M. (2014). The effect of age of L2 acquisition on the organization of the bilingual lexicon: Evidence from masked priming. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 17(3), 542–555. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Silva, R., & Clahsen, H. (2008). Morphologically complex words in L1 and L2 processing: Evidence from masked priming experiments in English. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 11(2), 245–260. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stevens, P., & Plaut, D. C. (2022). From decomposition to distributed theories of morphological processing in reading. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thierry, G., & Wu, Y. J. (2007). Brain potentials reveal unconscious translation during foreign-language comprehension. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 104(30), 12530–12535. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ullman, M. T. (2001). The neural basis of lexicon and grammar in first and second language: The declarative/procedural model. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4(2), 105–122. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2004). Contributions of memory circuits to language: The declarative/procedural model. Cognition, 92(1–2), 231–270. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vaid, J., & Hull, R. (2002). Re-envisioning the bilingual brain using functional neuroimaging: Methodological and interpretive issues. In F. Fabbro (Ed.), Advances in the neurolinguistics of bilingualism (pp. 315–355). Forum-Undine University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Veríssimo, J., Heyer, V., Jacob, G., & Clahsen, H. (2018). Selective effects of age of acquisition on morphological priming: Evidence for a sensitive period. Language Acquisition, 25(3), 315–326. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Viviani, E., & Crepaldi, D. (2022). Masked Morphological Priming and Sensitivity to the Statistical Structure of Form-to-Meaning Mapping in L2. Journal of Cognition, 5(1), 30. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Voga, M. (2020). Lexical co-activation with prefixed cognates and non-cognates: Evidence from cross-script masked priming. In M. Schlechtweg (Ed.), The learnability of complex constructions (1st ed., pp. 7–38). De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Voga, M., & Anastassiadis-Symeonidis, A. (2018). Connecting lexica in bilingual cross-script morphological processing: Base and series effects in language co-activation. Lexique, 23, 160–184.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Voga, M., Gardani, F., & Giraudo, H. (2020). Multilingualism and the mentallLexicon. In V. Pirrelli, I. Plag, & W. U. Dressler (Eds.), Word knowledge and word usage: A cross-disciplinary guide to the mental lexicon (pp. 506–552). De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Voga, M., & Grainger, J. (2007). Cognate status and cross-script translation priming. Memory & Cognition, 35(5), 938–952. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, M., Lin, C. Y., & Gao, W. (2010). Bilingual compound processing: The effects of constituent frequency and semantic transparency. Writing Systems Research, 2(2), 117–137. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wang, X., Taft, M., Wang, J., & Kim, S. Y. (2021). Finding a “flower” in a “peanut” is as easy as in a “garden”: Towards a lemma-based model of bilingual word recognition. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 36(9), 1076–1085. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wen, Y., & van Heuven, W. J. B. (2017). Non-cognate translation priming in masked priming lexical decision experiments: A meta-analysis. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24(3), 879–886. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2018). Limitations of translation activation in masked priming: Behavioural evidence from Chinese-English bilinguals and computational modelling. Journal of Memory & Language, 101, 84–96. aph. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wu, Y. J., & Thierry, G. (2010). Chinese-English bilinguals reading English hear Chinese. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(22), 7646–7651. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Zhang, T., van Heuven, W. J. B., & Conklin, K. (2011). Fast automatic translation and morphological decomposition in Chinese-English bilinguals. Psychological Science, 22(10), 1237–1242. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (6)

Cited by six other publications

Ciaccio, Laura Anna & Tiphaine Fievet
2025. Investigating the role of cross-linguistic influences in non-native morphological processing. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
El-Dakhs, Dina Abdel Salam, Suhad Sonbul & Anna Siyanova-Chanturia
2025. L1 effects on the processing of L2 compounds: an eye-tracking study. Journal of Cognitive Psychology 37:8 ► pp. 735 ff. DOI logo
Kahraman, Hasibe, Séverine Casalis, Ludivine Javourey-Drevet, Amélie Menut, Bianca de Wit & Elisabeth Beyersmann
2025. Morphological Complexity Modulates Morphological Processing: Evidence from Cross-Language Embedded Stem Priming in French-English Bilinguals. Scientific Studies of Reading 29:3 ► pp. 271 ff. DOI logo
Kahraman, Hasibe, Bilal Kırkıcı & Elisabeth Beyersmann
2025. Two decades later: letter transpositions within and across morpheme boundaries in L1 and L2 speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 28:4 ► pp. 1177 ff. DOI logo
Menut, Amélie, Marc Brysbaert & Séverine Casalis
2025. Do French speakers have an advantage in learning English vocabulary thanks to familiar suffixes?. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 78:1 ► pp. 48 ff. DOI logo
Kahraman, Hasibe, Bianca de Wit & Elisabeth Beyersmann
2024. Cross-language morphological transfer in similar-script bilinguals. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review 31:3 ► pp. 1155 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 3 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue