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Article published In: The Representation and Processing of Morphologically Complex Words
Edited by Lori Buchanan and Roberto G. de Almeida
[The Mental Lexicon 19:2] 2024
► pp. 308–339

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From ‘jellyfish’ to ‘poisson de gelée’

Compound production in bilingual aphasia

ORCiD logo with link | Curtin University
 | Bielefeld University
 | Macquarie University
 | Curtin University
 | Curtin University | Macquarie University | Curtin University
Published online: 14 April 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/ml.24028.moo
Abstract
This study investigated the representation of compound words in the mental lexicon by examining compound word production in bilingual speakers with aphasia. Eight bilingual speakers with aphasia named pictures of concepts with either compound or (non-compound) simple names in both of their languages. Error types were coded and analysed within and across languages with a particular focus on constituent and language mixing errors in compound words.
Four participants showed significantly greater accuracy for simple than compound words, three in their dominant and/or more proficient language, and one in their non-dominant language. Constituent errors were observed for all eight bilingual participants during compound word naming, while language mixing errors were observed in six participants.
The observed error patterns support co-activation of (compound) representations during word retrieval in bilingual speakers. Language mixing errors suggest that the bilingual lexicon stores a morphologically structured compound representation, an assumption that is consistent with a multiple-lemma representation of compounds. Further research is required to explore the extent to which constituent-specific access processes are at play in bilingual compound production.
Article outline
  • Introduction
    • Definition and representation of compound words
    • Compound processing in speakers with aphasia
    • This study
  • Methods
    • Participants
      • Questionnaires and background tasks
        • Bilingual language profiles
        • Background language assessments
    • Materials
      • Language-specific features of compounds
    • Procedure
    • Coding
      • Accuracy coding
      • Error coding
    • Analysis
  • Results
    • Compound naming accuracy across languages: dominance and proficiency
    • Compound and simple word naming accuracy within languages: morphological complexity
      • Error types in compound picture naming
      • Language mixing errors
    • Results summary
  • Discussion
    • Language dominance/proficiency influences compound naming accuracy
    • Accuracy and error types in the framework of psycholinguistic models
      • Origin of error types (code-switching and language mixing)
    • Limitations and future directions
    • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
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