Abstract
This study examines semantic sense and form-meaning connection across the bilingual’s languages as factors behind translation priming asymmetry, which refers to semantic priming between translation equivalents with L1 (first language) primes and L2 (second language) targets, but the lack of it in the reverse direction. In Experiment 1, many-sense L2 words did prime their L1 translations having fewer senses in a lexical decision task, contradicting the usual lack of L2-to-L1 priming. Results of Experiment 2 showed that few-sense L2 items did not prime their many-sense translations, but priming occurred in the reverse direction. In Experiment 3, only single-sense items were used, and priming occurred in the L1-to-L2 but not the L2-to-L1 direction, replicating the usual asymmetry. In Experiment 4, priming occurred in the L1-few-L2-many direction, indicating that form-meaning connection strength plays a role over the semantic sense ratio in this situation. Hence, both the relative number of item senses and item form-meaning connection strength (L1 > L2 by default, with number of senses controlled in Experiment 3) contribute to translation priming asymmetry.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
BASNGHT-BROWN, D. M., & ALTARRIBA, J. (2007). Differences in semantic and translation priming across languages: The role of language direction and language dominance. Memory & Cognition, 35, 953–965. doi: 10.3758/BF03193468
CAI, Q., & BRYSBAERT, M. (2010). SUBTLEX-CH: Chinese word and character frequencies based on film subtitles [Data file]. Plos ONE, 5(6), e10729. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010729
CORPUS OF CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN ENGLISH FREQUENCY DATABASe. Retrieved from http://www.wordfrequency.info
CREE, G., MCRAE, K., & MCNORGAN, C. (1999). An attractor model of lexical conceptual processing: Simulating semantic priming. Cognitive Science, 23(3), 371–414. doi: 10.1207/s15516709cog2303_4
DE GROOT, A. M. B., & NAS, G. L. J. (1991). Lexical representation of cognates and noncognates in compound bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language, 30, 90–123. doi: 10.1016/0749-596X
DICTIONARY EDITING OFFICE, LINGUISTICS RESEARCH CENTER, CHINA SOCIAL SCIENCE FACULTY. (2001). Xiandai Hanyu Cidian. Beijing: Shang Wu Yin Shu Guan.
DIMITROPOULOU, M., DUÑABEITIA, J.A., & CARREIRAS, M. (2011) Masked translation priming effects with low proficient bilinguals. Memory and Cognition, 39, 260–275.
DUÑABEITIA, J. A., PEREA, M., & CARREIRAS, M. (2010). Masked translation priming effects with highly proficient simultaneous bilinguals. Experimental Psychology, 57, 98–107. doi: 10.1027/1618-3169/a000013
A ENGLISH NON-WORDS [ARC NON-WORD DATABASE]. Retrieved from http://www.maccs.mq.edu.au/~nwdb/
FELLBAUM, C. (Ed.). (1998). WordNet: An Electronic Lexical Database. Proceedings of 11th Eurographics Workshop on Rendering.
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, 1–22. doi: 10.1016/j.jml.2004.01.004
GOLLAN, T., FORSTER, K. I., & FROST, R. (1997). Translation priming with different alphabets: Masked priming with cognates and noncognates in Hebrew-English bilinguals. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 23, 1122–1139. doi: 10.1037/0278-7393.23.5.1122
GRAINGER, J., & FRENCK-MESTRE, C. (1998). Masked priming by translation equivalents in proficient bilinguals. Language and Cognitive Processes, 13, 601–623. doi: 10.1080/016909698386393
JIANG, N. (1999). Testing processing explanations for the asymmetry in masked cross-language priming. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 2, 59–75. doi: 10.1017/S1366728999000152
JIANG, N., & FORSTER, K. I. (2001). Cross-language priming asymmetries in lexical decision and episodic recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 44, 32–51. doi: 10.1006/jmla.2000.2737
KEATLY, C. W., SPINKS, J. A., & DE GELDER, B. (1994). Asymmetrical cross-language priming effects. Memory & Cognition, 22, 70–84. doi: 10.3758/BF03202763
KROLL, J. F., & DE GROOT, A. M. B. (1997). Lexical and conceptual memory in the bilingual: Mapping for to meaning in two languages. In A. M. B. de Groot & J. F. Kroll (Eds.), Tutorials in bilingualism: Psycholinguistic perspectives (pp. 169–199). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
KIRSNER, K., SMITH, M. C., LOCKHART, R. S., KING, M.L., & JAIN, M. (1984). The bilingual lexicon: Language-specific units in an integrated network. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 23, 519–539. doi: 10.1016/S0022-5371(84)90336-0
KOLERS. (1963). Interlingual word associations. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 2, 291–300. doi: 10.1016/S0022-5371(63)80097-3
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, 149–174. doi: 10.1006/jmla.1994.1008
KROLL, J. F., & TOKOWICZ, N. (2001). The development of conceptual representation for words in a second language. In J. L. Nicol (Ed.), One mind, two languages: Bilingual language processing (pp. 49–71). Malden, MA: Blackwell.
MEYER, D. E., & RUDDY, M. G. (1974), Bilingual word recognition: Organization and retrieval of alternative lexical codes. Eastern Psychological Association Meeting.
POTTER, M. C., SO, K. F., VON ECKARDT, B., & FELDMAN, L. B. (1984). Lexical and conceptual representation in beginning and proficient bilinguals. Journal of Verbal Learning & Verbal Behavior, 23, 23–38. doi: 10.1016/S0022-5371(84)90489-4
RODD, J., GASKELL, G., & MARSLEN-WILSON, W. (2002). Making sense of semantic ambiguity: Semantic competition in lexical access. Journal of Memory and Langauge, 46, 245–266. doi: 10.1006/jmla.2001.2810
SANCHEZ-CASAS, R. M., DAVIS, C. W., & GARCIA-ALBEA, J. E. (1992). Bilingual lexical processing: Exploring the cognate/non-cognate distinction. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 4, 293–310. doi: 10.1080/09541449208406189
SCARBOROUGH, D. L., GERARD, L., & CORTESE, C. (1984). Independence of lexical access in bilingual word recognition. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 23, 84–99. doi: 10.1016/S0022-5371(84)90519-X
WANG, X., & FORSTER, K. I. (2010). Masked translation priming in semantic categorization: Testing the sense model. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 10(3), 1–14. doi: 10.1017/S1366728909990502
WILLIAMS, J. N. (1994). The relationship between word meanings in the first and second language: Evidence for a common, but restricted, semantic code. European Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 6, 195–220. doi: 10.1080/09541449408520143
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research was supported by National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (2012CB720704), National Social Science Foundation of China (11CYY023), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (31200785).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Luo, X., Cheung, H., Bel, D. et al. The Roles of Semantic Sense and Form-Meaning Connection in Translation Priming. Psychol Rec 63, 193–208 (2013). https://doi.org/10.11133/j.tpr.2013.63.1.015
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.11133/j.tpr.2013.63.1.015