Article published In: Translation, Cognition & Behavior
Vol. 5:1 (2022) ► pp.84–109
Workload and cognitive architecture in translation
Merging models of bilingual language processing
Published online: 6 September 2022
https://doi.org/10.1075/tcb.00066.mai
https://doi.org/10.1075/tcb.00066.mai
Abstract
This article endeavours to sketch out a consistent merger of models of language production and bilingualism that
are currently used in the fields of Translation and Interpreting and of psycholinguistics. The workload resource of Cognitive
Verbal Processing and the processing components that it serves are found to be of particular interest in this interdisciplinary
perspective. Known psycholinguistic effects that involve workload (i.e., a function of activation energy) are outlined with
particular emphasis on their possible relevance in translation processing. This suggests a number of potential lines of research
for both fields.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Types of translation
- 3.Models of language processing
- 3.1Translation and interpreting: Workload models
- 3.1.1The efforts models
- 3.1.2The cognitive load model
- 3.1.3Other translation tasks the cognitive load model
- 3.2Psycholinguistics: Architectural models
- 3.2.1Professionals and ‘regular’ bilinguals
- 3.2.2Cognitive architecture
- 3.3Architecture and resources
- 3.1Translation and interpreting: Workload models
- 4.Cognitive activation: Workload in psycholinguists’ findings
- 4.1Frequency effects
- 4.2Priming effects
- 4.2.1Lexical priming
- 4.2.2Structural priming
- 5.More than priming
- 6.Conclusion
- Notes
References
References (67)
Abutalebi, Jubin & David W. Green. 2007. “Bilingual
language production: The neurocognition of language representation and
control”. Cognition 20 (3): 242–275.
Bernolet, Sarah, Robert J. Hartsuiker & Martin J. Pickering. 2007. “Shared
syntactic representations in bilinguals: Evidence for the role of word-order
repetition.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, memory, and
cognition 33 (5): 931–949.
Bock, Kathryn J. 1986. “Syntactic persistence in
language production.” Cognitive
Psychology 181: 355–387.
de Bot, Kees. 1992. “A
bilingual production model: Levelt’s ‘Speaking’ model adapted.” Applied
Linguistics 13 (1): 1–24.
Brysbaert, Marc & Wouter Duyck. 2010. “Is
it time to leave behind the revised hierarchical model of bilingual language processing after fifteen years of
service?” Bilingualism: Language and
cognition 13 (3): 359–371.
Caramazza, Alfonso & Michele Miozzo. 1998. “More
is not always better: A response to Roelofs, Meyer, and
Levelt.” Cognition 69 (2): 231–241.
Carl, Michael & Moritz J. Schaeffer. 2017. “Why
translation is difficult: A corpus-based study of non-literality in post-editing and from-scratch
translation.” HERMES—Journal of Language and Communication in
Business 561: 43–57.
Carroll, Patrick & Maria L. Slowiaczek. 1986. “Constraints
on semantic priming in reading: A fixation time analysis.” Memory &
Cognition 14 (6): 509–522.
Castagnoli, Sara. 2020. “Translation
choices compared: Investigating variation in a learner translation
corpus.” In Translating and Comparing Languages: Corpus-based
insights. Edited by Sylviane Granger & Marie-Aude Lefer, 25–44. Louvain-la-Neuve: PU.
Chang, Franklin, Kathryn J. Bock & Adele Goldberg. 2003. “Can
thematic roles leave traces of their
places?” Cognition 96 (1): 29–49.
Corley, Martin & Christoph Scheepers. 2002. “Syntactic
Priming in English sentence production: Categorical and latency evidence.” Psychonomic Bulletin
&
Review 9 (1): 126–131.
Costa, Albert, & Mikel Santesteban. 2004. “Lexical
access in bilingual speech production. Evidence from language switching in highly proficient bilinguals and L2
learners.” Journal of Memory and
Language 501: 491–511.
Dell, Gary S. 1986. “A spreading-activation theory
of retrieval in Sentence Production.” Psychological
Review 93 (3): 283–321.
Dijkstra, Ton, Jonathan Grainger & Walter J. B. van Heuven. 1999. “Recognition
of cognates and interlingual homographs: The neglected role of phonology.” Journal of Memory
and Language 411: 496–518.
Dole, Janice A., Jeffery D. Noke, & Dina Drits. 2009. “Cognitive
Strategy Instruction.” In Handbook of Research on Reading
Comprehension. Edited by Susan E. Israel & Gerald G. Duffy, 347–372. New York: Taylor & Francis.
Duyck, Wouter, Dieter Vanderelst, Timothy Desmet & Robert J. Hartsuiker. 2008. “The
frequency effect in second-language visual word recognition.” Psychonomic Bulletin &
Review 15 (4): 850–855.
eng_news_2020. (English news corpus based on material from
2020.) Leipzig Corpora
Collection. Accessed 25 February
2022. [URL]
Eskola, Sari. 2002. Syntetisoivat rakenteet kaannossuomessa. Suomennetun kaunokirjallisuuden ominaispiirteiden tarkastelua korpusmenetelmilla. [Synthesising structures in translated Finnish. A corpus-based analysis of the special features of Finnish literary translations]. PhD dissertation, University of Joensuu.
. 2004. “Untypical
frequencies in translated language. A corpus-based study on a literary corpus of translated and non-translated
Finnish.” In Translation Universals: Do they
Exist? Edited by Anna Mauranen & Pekka Kujamäki, 83–99. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Gile, Daniel. 1995. Basic
Concepts and Models for Interpreter and Translator
Training. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
. 1997. “Conference
interpreting as a cognitive management problem.” In Cognitive
Processes in Translation and Interpreting. Edited by Joseph H. Danks, Gregory M. Shreve, Stephen B. Fountain & Michael K. McBeath, 196–214. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
. 1999. “Testing
the Effort Models’ Tightrope Hypothesis in Simultaneous Interpreting—A
contribution.” HERMES—Journal of Language and Communication in
Business 231: 153–172.
van Gompel, Roger P. G., Martin J. Pickering, Jamie Pearson & Gunnar Jacob. 2006. “The
activation of inappropriate analyses in garden-path sentences: Evidence from structural
priming.” Journal of Memory and
Language 55 (3): 335–362.
Green, David W. 1986. “Control, activation, and
resource. A framework and a model for the control of speech in bilinguals.” Brain and
Language 271: 210–223.
Harris, Brian & Bianca Sherwood. 1978. “Translating
as an innate skill.” In Language Interpreting and
Communication. Edited by David Gerver & H. Wallace Sinaiko, 155–170. New York: Plenum.
Hartsuiker, Robert J. & Martin J. Pickering. 2008. “Language
integration in bilingual sentence production.” Acta
Psychologica 128 (3): 479–489.
Hartsuiker, Robert J., Martin J. Pickering & Eline Veltkamp. 2004. “Is
syntax separate or shared between languages? Cross-linguistic syntactic priming in Spanish-English
bilinguals.” Psychological
Science 15 (6): 409–414.
van Hell, Janet G. & Darren Tanner. 2012. “Second
Language proficiency and cross-language lexical activation.” Language
Learning 62 (s2): 148–171.
Isham, William P. 1994. “Memory for sentence form after
Simultaneous Interpretation: Evidence both for and against
deverbalization.” In Bridging The Gap. Empirical research in
simultaneous interpretation. Edited by Sylvie Lambert & Barbara Moser Mercer, 191–211. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Ivanova, Iva & Albert Costa. 2008. “Does
bilingualism hamper lexical access in speech production?” Acta
Psychologica 1271: 277–288.
Jacob, Gunnar, Kalliopi Katsika, Neiloufar Family & Shanley E. M. Allen. 2017. “The
role of constituent order and level of embedding in cross-linguistic Structural
Priming. Bilingualism: Language and
cognition 20 (2): 269–282.
Jacob, Gunnar, Moritz Schaeffer, Katharina Oster, Silvia Hansen-Schirra & Shanley Allen. 2021. “Towards
a methodological toolset for the psycholinguistics of translation. The case of priming
paradigms.” Cognitive Linguistic
Studies 8 (2): 440–461.
. 2021. “Cross-linguistic
structural priming in translation students.” Presentation,
ICTIC3—Third International Conference on Translation, Interpreting and
Cognition, Forlì, 02–05 November
2021.
Kroll, Judith F. & Erika Stewart. 1994. “Category
interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory
representations.” Journal of Memory and
Language 331: 149–174.
Kroll, Judith F., Janet G. van Hell, Natasha Tokowicz & David Green. 2010. “The
Revised Hierarchical Model: A critical review and assessment.” Bilingualism: Language and
Cognition 13 (3): 373–381.
Levelt, Willem J. M., Ardi Roelofs & Antje S. Meyer. 1999. “A
theory of lexical access in Speech Production.” Behavioral and Brain
Sciences 22 (1): 1–75.
Loebell, Helga & Kathryn J. Bock. 2003. “Structural
priming across
languages.” Linguistics 41 (5): 791–824.
Maier, Robert M., Martin J. Pickering & Robert J. Hartsuiker. 2017. “Does
translation involve structural priming?” Quarterly Journal of Experimental
Psychology 70 (8): 1575–1589.
Malakoff, Marguerite & Kenji Hakuta. 1991. “Translation
skill and and metalinguistic awareness in Bilinguals.” In Language
Processing in Bilingual Children. Edited by Ellen Bialystok, 141–166. Cambridge: UP.
Marslen-Wilson, William D. 2001. “Access to lexical
representations: Cross-linguistic issues.” Language and Cognitive
Processes 16 (5/6): 699–708.
Mauranen, Anna. 2006. “Translation
universals.” In Encyclopedia of Language and
Linguistics (vol.171). Edited by Keith Brown, 93–100. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Meara, Paul. 2005. “Lexical
Frequency profiles: A Monte Carlo analysis.” Applied
Linguistics 26 (1): 32–47.
Paradis, Michel. 1987. “Neurolinguistic
perspectives on bilingualism.” In The Assessment of Bilingual
Aphasia. Edited by Michel Paradis & George Libben, 1–17. Hillsdale: Erlbaum.
. 1994. “Toward
a Neurolinguistic Theory of Simultaneous Translation: The Framework.” International Journal of
Psycholinguistics 10 (3): 319–335.
Pavlenko, Aneta & Barbara C. Malt. 2011. “Kitchen
Russian: Cross-linguistic differences and first-language object naming by Russian-English
bilinguals.” Bilingualism: Language and
cognition 14 (1): 19–45.
Pickering, Martin J. & Holly P. Branigan. 1998. “The
representation of verbs: Evidence from syntactic priming in Language Production.” Journal of
Memory and Language 391: 633–651.
Robert, Isabelle S. 2021. “Sight Translation into L2
French: An action research study into source language
interferences.” Presentation, ICTIC3—Third
International Conference on Translation, Interpreting and
Cognition. Forlì, 02–05 November
2021.
Roelofs, Ardi. 1997. “The
WEAVER model of word-form encoding in speech
production.” Cognition 64 (3): 249–284.
Roelofs, Ardi; Antje S. Meyer & Willem J. M. Levelt. 1998. “A
case for the lemma/lexeme distinction in models of speaking: Comment on Caramazza and Miozzo
(1997).” Cognition 69 (2): 219–230.
Schaeffer, Moritz & Michael Carl. 2013. “Shared
representations and the translation process. A recursive model.” Translation and Interpreting
Studies 8 (2): 169–190.
Schoonbaert, Sofie, Robert J. Hartsuiker & Martin J. Pickering. 2007. “The
representation of lexical and syntactic information in bilinguals: Evidence from syntactic
priming.” Journal of Memory and
Language 56 (2): 153–171.
Seeber, Kilian G. 2011. “Cognitive load in Simultaneous
Interpreting. Existing theories—new
models.” Interpreting 13 (2): 176–204.
Seeber, Kilian G. & Dirk Kerzel. 2011. “Cognitive
load in Simultaneous Interpreting. Model meets data.” International Journal of
Bilingualism 16 (2): 228–242.
Seleskovitch, Danica. 1976. “Interpretation:
A psychological approach to translating.” In Translation.
Applications and Research. Edited by Richard W. Brislin, 92–116. New York: Gardner.
Slowiaczek, Louisa M., Howard C. Nusbaum & David B. Pisoni. 1987. “Phonological
priming in auditory word recognition.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, memory,
and
cognition 13 (1): 64–75.
Stemberger, Joseph P. & Brian MacWhinney. 1986. “Frequency
and the lexical storage of regularly inflected forms.” Memory &
Cognition 14 (1): 17–26.
Stewart, Oliver W. T. 2014. The influence of limiting
working memory resources on contextual facilitation in language processing. Doctoral
Dissertation, University of Edinburgh.
Tokowicz, Natasha, Judith F. Kroll, Annette M. B. de Groot & Janet G. van Hell. 2002. “Number-of-translation
norms for Dutch-English translation pairs: A new tool for examining language
production.” Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, &
Computers 34 (3): 435–451.
Ullman, Michael. 2001. “The
declarative/procedural model of lexicon and grammar.” Journal of Psycholinguistic
Research 30 (1): 37–69.
Whyatt, Bogusława & Mateusz Marczyk. 2021. “The
same, similar, or different? Syntactic priming and the order of information in L1 and L2
translation.” Presentation, ICTIC3—Third International
Conference on Translation, Interpreting and
Cognition. Forlì, 02–05 November
2021.
Wickens, Christopher D. 1984. “Processing resources in
attention.” In Varieties of Attention. Edited
by Raja Parasuraman & David R. Davies, 63–102. New York: Academic Press.
Cited by (2)
Cited by two other publications
Jacob, Gunnar, Hanife Ilen & Helen Engemann
2025. The role of cross-linguistic structural priming in contact-induced language change. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 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.
