Cover not available

In:Bilingualism, Executive Function, and Beyond: Questions and insights
Edited by Irina A. Sekerina, Lauren Spradlin and Virginia Valian
[Studies in Bilingualism 57] 2019
► pp. 117–130

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 8
Investigating grammatical processing in bilinguals

The case of morphological priming

 | University of Potsdam
 | University of Potsdam
Published online: 12 June 2019
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sibil.57.08cla
Abstract
In this article we discuss methods for investigating grammatical processing in bilinguals. We will present a methodological approach that relies on: (i) linguistic theory (in our case, morphology) for the construction of experimental materials; (ii) a design that allows for direct (within-experiment, within-participant, and within-item) comparisons of the critical conditions; and (iii) data analysis techniques that make both linear and non-linear gradient effects visible. We review recent studies of masked morphological priming in bilinguals in which the application of these methodological principles revealed highly selective interactions of age of acquisition (and the native/non-native contrast) with the linguistic distinction between inflection and derivation. We believe that such considerations are not only relevant for grammatical processing experiments, but also for studying bilingualism, and its potential cognitive advantages, more generally.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Morphological processing in bilinguals
  • 3.Linguistic background: Inflection vs. derivation
  • 4.Morphological priming
  • 5.Data analysis techniques: Non-linear effects of age of acquisition
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
References (38)
References
Abutalebi, J., & Green, D. W. (2016). Neuroimaging of language control in bilinguals: neural adaptation and reserve. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Anderson, S. R. (1992). A-morphous morphology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Baayen, R. H. (2008). Analyzing linguistic data: A practical introduction to statistics using R. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. (2009). Bilingualism: The good, the bad, and the indifferent. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12, 3–11. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Birdsong, D. (2005). Interpreting age effects in second language acquisition. In J. F. Kroll & A. M. B. de Groot (Eds.), Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic perspectives (pp. 109–127). New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2009). Age and the end state of second language acquisition. In W. C. Ritchie & T. K. Bhatia (Eds.), The new handbook of second language acquisition (pp. 401–424). Bingley: Emerald.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bozic, M., Tyler, L. K., Su, L., Wingfield, C., & Marslen-Wilson, W. D. (2013). Neurobiological systems for lexical representation and analysis in English. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25, 1678–1691. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dekydtspotter, L., & Miller, A. K. (2013). Inhibitive and facilitative priming induced by traces in the processing of wh-dependencies in a second language. Second Language Research, 29, 345–372. 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
Faust, M. E., Balota, D. A., Spieler, D. H., & Ferraro, F. R. (1999). Individual differences in information-processing rate and amount: implications for group differences in response latency. Psychological Bulletin, 125, 777–799. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Feldman, L. B., O’Connor, P. A., & Moscoso Del Prado Martín, F. (2009). Early morphological processing is morphosemantic and not simply morpho-orthographic: A violation of form-then-meaning accounts of word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 16, 684–691. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Frost, R., Deutsch, A., Gilboa, O., Tannenbaum, M., Marslen-Wilson, W. (2000). Morphological priming: Dissociation of phonological, semantic, and morphological factors. Memory & Cognition, 28, 1277–1288. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Goldrick, M., Putnam, M., & Schwarz, L. (2016). Coactivation in bilingual grammars: A computational account of code mixing. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hakuta, K., Bialystok, E., & Wiley, E. (2003). Critical evidence: A test of the critical-period hypothesis for second-language acquisition. Psychological Science, 14, 31–38. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hartsuiker, R. (2015). Why it is pointless to ask under which specific circumstances the bilingual advantage occurs. Cortex73, 336–337. 15 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, 543–550. 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, 619–637. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Johnson, J. S., Newport, E. L. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive Psychology, 21, 60–99. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Juffs, A. & Rodriguez, G. A. (2015). Second language sentence processing. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kirkici, B., & Clahsen, H. (2013). Inflection and derivation in native and non-native language processing: Masked priming experiments on Turkish. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 16, 776–794. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Liang, L., & Chen, B. (2014). Processing morphologically complex words in second-language learners: The effect of proficiency. Acta Psychologica, 150, 69–79. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Linck, J. A., Hoshino, N., & Kroll, J. F. (2008). Cross-language lexical processes and inhibitory control. Mental Lexicon, 3, 349–374. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Luk, G., de Sa, E., & Bialystok, E. (2011). Is there a relation between onset age of bilingualism and enhancement of cognitive control?. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 14, 588–595. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marslen-Wilson, W. D. (2007). Morphological processes in language comprehension. In G. Gaskell (Ed.), Oxford Handbook of Psycholinguistics (pp. 175–193). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Marslen-Wilson, W. D., Bozic, M., & Randall, B. (2008). Early decomposition in visual word recognition: Dissociating morphology, form, and meaning. Language and Cognitive Processes, 23, 394–421. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pelham, S. D., & Abrams, L. (2013). Cognitive advantages and disadvantages in early and late bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40, 313–325.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Pinker, S. (1994). The language instinct: How the mind creates language. New York: Morrow. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Raveh, M., and Rueckl, J. G. (2000). Equivalent effects of inflected and derived primes: Long-term morphological priming in fragment completion and lexical decision. Journal of Memory and Language, 42, 103–119. 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
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, 245–260. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stanners, R. F., Neisser, J. J., Hernon, W. P., & Hall, R. (1979). Memory representation for morphologically related words. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 399–412. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stump, G. (2001). Inflectional morphology: A theory of paradigm structure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Valian, V. (2015). Bilingualism and cognition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18, 3–24. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Vanhove, J. (2013). The critical period hypothesis in second language acquisition: A statistical critique and a reanalysis. PLoS ONE, 8. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Veríssimo, J. & Clahsen, H. (2009). Morphological priming by itself: A study of Portuguese conjugations. Cognition, 112, 187–194. 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, 315–326. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Voga, M., Anastassiadis-Syméonidis, A., & Giraudo, H. (2014). Does morphology play a role in L2 processing? Two masked priming experiments with Greek speakers of ESL. Lingvisticæ Investigationes, 37, 338–352. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Xu, Y. (2014). Processing relative clauses in Chinese as a second language. Second Language Research, 30, 439–461. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue