Cover not available

Article published In: Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
Vol. 9:2 (2019) ► pp.228–252

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

Covert co-activation of bilinguals’ non-target language

Phonological competition from translations

 | Northwestern University
 | Northwestern University
Published online: 6 November 2017
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.17022.sho
Abstract
When listening to spoken language, bilinguals access words in both of their languages at the same time; this co-activation is often driven by phonological input mapping to candidates in multiple languages during online comprehension. Here, we examined whether cross-linguistic activation could occur covertly when the input does not overtly cue words in the non-target language. When asked in English to click an image of a duck, English-Spanish bilinguals looked more to an image of a shovel than to unrelated distractors, because the Spanish translations of the words duck and shovel (pato and pala, respectively) overlap phonologically in the non-target language. Our results suggest that bilinguals access their unused language, even in the absence of phonologically overlapping input. We conclude that during bilingual speech comprehension, words presented in a single language activate translation equivalents, with further spreading activation to unheard phonological competitors. These findings support highly interactive theories of language processing.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The current study
  • 3.Methods
    • 3.1Participants
    • 3.2Materials
      • 3.2.1Visual stimuli
      • 3.2.2Auditory stimuli
    • 3.3Procedure
    • 3.4Data analysis and design
  • 4.Results
    • 4.1Accuracy and reaction time
    • 4.2Time course analyses
      • 4.2.1Bilingual competition in English and Spanish
    • 4.3Cross-language competition
    • 4.4Overall fixation analyses
  • 5.Discussion
  • Acknowledgement
  • Notes
  • References
References (46)
References
Bates, E., D’Amico, S., Jacobsen, T., Székely, A., Andonova, E., Devescovi, A., Herron, D., et al. (2003). Timed picture naming in seven languages. Psychonomic Bulletin Review, 10(2), 344–380. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Blumenfeld, H., & Marian, V. (2007). Constraints on parallel activation in bilingual spoken language processing: Examining proficiency and lexical status using eye-tracking. Language and Cognitive Processes, 22(5), 633–660. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Brysbaert, M., & New, B. (2009). Moving beyond Kucera and Francis: A critical evaluation of current word frequency norms and the introduction of a new and improved word frequency measure for American English. Behavioral Research Methods, 41(4), 977–990. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Canseco-Gonzalez, E., Brehm, L., Brick, C. A., Brown-Schmidt, S., Fischer, K., & Wagner, K. (2010). Carpet or cárcel: The effect of age of acquisition and language mode on bilingual lexical access. Language and Cognitive Processes, 25(5), 669–705. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chabal, S., & Marian, V. (2015). Speakers of different languages process the visual world differently. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(3), 539–550. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Costa, A., Pannunzi, M., Deco, G., & Pickering, M. J. (2016). Do bilinguals automatically activate their native language when they are not using it? Cognitive Science. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cuetos, F., Glez-Nosti, M., Barbón, A., & Brysbaert, M. (2011). SUBTLEX-ESP: Spanish word frequencies based on film subtitles. Psicológica, 321, 133–143.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cutler, A., Weber, A., & Otake, T. (2006). Asymmetric mapping from phonetic to lexical representations in second-language listening. Journal of Phonetics, 341, 269–284. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davis, C. J. (2005). N-watch: a program for deriving neighborhood size and other psycholinguistic statistics. Behavior Research Methods, 37(1), 65–70. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Davis, C. J., & Perea, M. (2005). BuscaPalabras: a program for deriving orthographic and phonological neighborhood statistics and other psycholinguistic indices in Spanish. Behavior Research Methods, 37(4), 665–671. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, L. M. (1997). Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Third Edition. Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Fairbanks, G. (1960). Voice and Articulation Drillbook, Harper and Row, New York.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Finkbeiner, M., Forster, K., Nicol, J., & Nakamura, K. (2004). The role of polysemy in masked semantic and translation priming. Journal of Memory and Language, 51(1), 1–22. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Giezen, M. R., Blumenfeld, H. K., Shook, A., Marian, V., & Emmorey, K. (2015). Parallel language activation and inhibitory control in bimodal bilinguals. Cognition, 1411, 9–25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gollan, T. H., Forster, K. I., & Frost, R. (1997). Translation priming with different scripts: masked priming with cognates and noncognates in Hebrew-English bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 23(5), 1122–1139. American Psychological Association. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hartsuiker, R. J., Pickering, M. J., & Veltkamp, E. (2004). Is syntax separate or shared between languages? Cross-linguistic syntactic priming in Spanish-English bilinguals. Psychological Science, 15(6), 409–414. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hoshino, N., Midgley, K. J., Holcomb, P. J., & Grainger, J. (2010). An ERP investigation of masked cross-script translation priming. Brain Research, 1344(0), 159–172. Elsevier B.V. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Jiang, N., & Forster, K. I. (2001). Cross-Language Priming Asymmetries in Lexical Decision and Episodic Recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 44(1), 32–51. Elsevier. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Ju, M. & Luce, P. A. (2004). Falling on sensitive ears. Psychological Science, 151, 314–318. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kaushanskaya, M., & Marian, V. (2007). Non-target language recognition and interference: Evidence from eye-tracking and picture naming. Language Learning, 57(1), 119–163. 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
Kutas, M., & Federmeier, K. D. (2000). Electrophysiology reveals semantic memory use in language comprehension. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(12), 463–470. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lau, E. F., Phillips, C., & Poeppel, D. (2008). A cortical network for semantics: (de)constructing the N400. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 9(12), 920–933. Nature Publishing Group. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Magnuson, J. S., Dixon, J. A., Tanenhaus, M. K., & Aslin, R. N. (2007). The dynamics of lexical competition during spoken word recognition. Cognitive Science, 31(1), 133–156. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marian, V., Blumenfeld, H., & Boukrina, O. (2008). Sensitivity to phonological similarity within and across languages: A native/non-native asymmetry in bilinguals. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 371, 141–170. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marian, V., Blumenfeld, H., & Kaushanskaya, M. (2007). The language experience and proficiency questionnaire (LEAP-Q): Assessing language profiles in bilinguals and multilinguals. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50(4), 940–967. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marian, V., & Spivey, M. (2003a). Bilingual and monolingual processing of competing lexical items. Applied Psycholinguistics, 241, 173–193. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marian, V. & Spivey, M. (2003b). Competing activation in bilingual language processing: Within- and between-language competition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 6(2), 97–115. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mercier, J., Pivneva, I., & Titone, D. (2016). The role of prior language context on bilingual spoken word processing: Evidence from the visual world task. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(2), 376–399. .Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Midgley, K. J., Holcomb, P. J., & Grainger, J. (2009). Language effects in second language learners and proficient bilinguals investigated with event-related potentials. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 22(3), 281–300. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mirman, D. (2014). Growth curve analysis and visualization using R. New York: Chapman and Hall / CRC.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Morford, J., Wilkinson, E., Villwock, A., Piñar, P., & Kroll, J. (2011). When deaf signers read English: Do written words activate their sign translations? Cognition, 118(2), 286–292. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Schoonbaert, S., Duyck, W., Brysbaert, M., & Hartsuiker, R. J. (2009). Semantic and translation priming from a first language to a second and back: Making sense of the findings. Memory and Cognition, 371, 569–586. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shook, A., & Marian, V. (2012). Bimodal bilinguals co-activate both languages during spoken comprehension. Cognition, 1241, 314–324. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). The Bilingual Language Interaction Network for Comprehension of Speech. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 161, 304–324. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Singh, N., & Mishra, R. K. (2015). Unintentional activation of translation equivalents in bilinguals leads to attention capture in a cross-modal visual task. PLoS ONE, 10(3). 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, 1041, 12530–12535. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Van Hell, J. G., Ormel, E., van der Loop, J., & Hermans, D. (2009). Cross-language interaction in unimodal and bimodal bilinguals. Paper presented at the 16th Conference of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology . Cracow, Poland, September 2–5.
Villameriel, S., Dias, P., Costello, B., & Carreiras, M. (2016). Cross-language and cross-modal activation in hearing bimodal bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language, 871, 59–70. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Weber, A., & Cutler, A. (2004). Lexical competition in non-native spoken- word recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 501, 1–25. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wu, Y. J., Cristino, F., Leek, C., & Thierry, G. (2013). Non-selective lexical access in bilinguals is spontaneous and independent of input monitoring: Evidence from eye tracking. Cognition, 129(2), 418–425. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Wu, Y. J., & Thierry, G. (2010a). Chinese-English bilinguals reading English hear Chinese. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(22), 7646–7651. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2010b). Investigating bilingual processing: The neglected role of language processing contexts. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 178. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yee, E., & Sedivy, J. (2006). Eye movements reveal transient semantic activation during spoken word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 321, 1–14. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Yee, E., & Thompson-Schill, S. (2007). Does lexical activation flow from word meanings to word sounds during spoken word recognition? Poster presented at the 48th annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society . Long Beach, CA.
Zhang, T., Van Heuven, W. J. B., & Conklin, K. (2011). Fast Automatic Translation and Morphological Decomposition in Chinese-English Bilinguals. Psychological Science, 221(August), 1237–1242. SAGE Publications. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Cited by (28)

Cited by 28 other publications

Chung-Fat-Yim, Ashley, Sayuri Hayakawa & Viorica Marian
2025. Language experience influences performance on the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery: A cluster analysis. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications 12:1 DOI logo
Deng, Ting, John W. Schwieter, Huan Lv, Yan Zhang, Jie Yuan & Ruiming Wang
2025. Cross-language activation and semantic judgements of translation ambiguous words among Chinese–English bilinguals. International Journal of Bilingualism 29:3 ► pp. 600 ff. DOI logo
Marian, Viorica & Sayuri Hayakawa
2025. Consequences of Bilingual Language Coactivation for Higher Order Cognition. Current Directions in Psychological Science DOI logo
Prasad, Seema, Shivam Puri, Keerthana Kapiley, Riya Rafeekh & Ramesh Mishra
2025. Looking Without Knowing: Evidence for Language-Mediated Eye Movements to Masked Words in Hindi-English Bilinguals. Languages 10:2 ► pp. 32 ff. DOI logo
Zhang, Xueni, Binghan Zheng & Yan Jing Wu
2025. Cross-language interactions during concurrent comprehension and production: evidence from simultaneous interpreters. Applied Psycholinguistics 46 DOI logo
Berghoff, Robyn & Emanuel Bylund
2024. L2 activation during L1 processing is increased by exposure but decreased by proficiency. International Journal of Bilingualism 28:3 ► pp. 555 ff. DOI logo
Chung-Fat-Yim, Ashley, Matias Fernandez-Duque & Viorica Marian
2024. Multilingualism, creativity, and problem-solving. In Multilingual Acquisition and Learning [Studies in Bilingualism, 67], ► pp. 36 ff. DOI logo
Kapnoula, Efthymia C., Mina Jevtović & James S. Magnuson
2024. Spoken Word Recognition: A Focus on Plasticity. Annual Review of Linguistics 10:1 ► pp. 233 ff. DOI logo
Kim, Hyoung Sun & Say Young Kim
2024. Evidence of rapid automatic translation in Korean-English bilinguals using masked implicit priming: An ERP study. Journal of Neurolinguistics 69 ► pp. 101172 ff. DOI logo
Chung-Fat-Yim, Ashley, Ronda F. Lo & Raymond A. Mar
2023. Multilingualism and mentalizing abilities in adults. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 26:2 ► pp. 456 ff. DOI logo
Fernandez-Duque, Matias, Sayuri Hayakawa & Viorica Marian
2023. Speakers of different languages remember visual scenes differently. Science Advances 9:33 DOI logo
Gimeno-Martínez, Marc & Cristina Baus
2023. Unravelling cross-language effects in bimodal bilingualism. In Bilingualism through the Prism of Psycholinguistics [Bilingual Processing and Acquisition, 17], ► pp. 159 ff. DOI logo
Keller, Laura, Malte C. Viebahn, Alexis Hervais-Adelman, Kilian G. Seeber & Nicola Molinaro
2023. Unpacking the multilingualism continuum: An investigation of language variety co-activation in simultaneous interpreters. PLOS ONE 18:11 ► pp. e0289484 ff. DOI logo
Mulík, Stanislav & Haydée Carrasco-Ortiz
2023. Different effects of L1 and L2 phonology on L3 lexical learning: An ERP study. Second Language Research 39:2 ► pp. 493 ff. DOI logo
Sun, Xin, Rebecca A. Marks, Kehui Zhang, Chi‐Lin Yu, Rachel L. Eggleston, Nia Nickerson, Tai‐Li Chou, Xiao‐Su Hu, Twila Tardif, Teresa Satterfield & Ioulia Kovelman
2023. Brain bases of English morphological processing: A comparison between Chinese‐English, Spanish‐English bilingual, and English monolingual children. Developmental Science 26:1 DOI logo
Zhang, Er-Hu, Jiaxin Li, Defeng Li, Yiqiang Chen, Xin-Dong Zhang, Xinyi Wang & Hong-Wen Cao
2023. An event-related potential study of cross-modal translation recognition in Chinese–English bilinguals: the role of cross-linguistic orthography and phonology. Language and Cognition 15:2 ► pp. 292 ff. DOI logo
Freeman, Max R. & Viorica Marian
2022. VISUAL WORD RECOGNITION IN BILINGUALS. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 44:3 ► pp. 759 ff. DOI logo
Goodrich, J. Marc & Sergio Leiva
2022. Semantic priming and reading skills among Spanish-speaking dual language learners. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 25:5 ► pp. 1894 ff. DOI logo
Hui, Nga-Yan, Manson Cheuk-Man Fong & William Shiyuan Wang
2022. Bilingual Prefabs: No Switching Cost Was Found in Cantonese–English Habitual Code-Switching in Hong Kong. Languages 7:3 ► pp. 198 ff. DOI logo
Lee, Brittany & Kristen Secora
2022. Fingerspelling and Its Role in Translanguaging. Languages 7:4 ► pp. 278 ff. DOI logo
Villameriel, Saúl, Brendan Costello, Marcel Giezen & Manuel Carreiras
2022. Cross-modal and cross-language activation in bilinguals reveals lexical competition even when words or signs are unheard or unseen. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 119:36 DOI logo
Wang, Yuanbo, Menglin Du, Keke Yu, Guangyin Shen, Ting Deng & Ruiming Wang
2022. Bi-directional cross-language activation in Chinese Sign Language (CSL)-Chinese bimodal bilinguals. Acta Psychologica 229 ► pp. 103693 ff. DOI logo
Berghoff, Robyn, Jayde McLoughlin & Emanuel Bylund
2021. L1 activation during L2 processing is modulated by both age of acquisition and proficiency. Journal of Neurolinguistics 58 ► pp. 100979 ff. DOI logo
Iniesta, Antonio, Daniela Paolieri, Francisca Serrano & M. Teresa Bajo
2021. Bilingual writing coactivation: Lexical and sublexical processing in a word dictation task. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 24:5 ► pp. 902 ff. DOI logo
Marian, Viorica, James Bartolotti, Natalia L. Daniel & Sayuri Hayakawa
2021. Spoken words activate native and non-native letter-to-sound mappings: Evidence from eye tracking. Brain and Language 223 ► pp. 105045 ff. DOI logo
Hayakawa, Sayuri & Viorica Marian
2020. Studying Bilingualism Through Eye-Tracking and Brain Imaging. In Bilingual Lexical Ambiguity Resolution, ► pp. 273 ff. DOI logo
McDonald, Margarethe & Margarita Kaushanskaya
2020. Factors modulating cross-linguistic co-activation in bilinguals. Journal of Phonetics 81 ► pp. 100981 ff. DOI logo
Bartolotti, James & Viorica Marian
2019. Learning and processing of orthography-to-phonology mappings in a third language. International Journal of Multilingualism 16:4 ► pp. 377 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 november 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