Abstract
Historically, the manner in which translation ambiguity and emotional content are represented in bilingual memory have often been ignored in many theoretical and empirical investigations, resulting in these linguistic factors related to bilingualism being absent from even the most promising models of bilingual memory representation. However, in recent years it was reported that the number of translations a word has across languages influences the speed with which bilinguals translate concrete and abstract words from one language into another (Tokowicz and Kroll in Lang Cogn Process 22:727–779, 2007). The current work examines how the number of translations that characterize a word influences bilingual lexical organization and the processing of concrete, abstract, and emotional stimuli. In Experiment 1, Spanish-English bilinguals translated concrete and abstract words with one and more than one translation. As reported by Tokowicz and Kroll, concreteness effects emerged only when words had more than one translation across languages. In Experiment 2, bilinguals translated emotion words with more than one translation. Concreteness effects emerged in both language directions for words with more than one translation, and in the L1–L2 language direction for words with a single translation across languages. These findings are discussed in terms of how multiple translations, specifically for emotion words, might be incorporated into current models of bilingual memory representation.
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Notes
Emotion-laden words (e.g., grave, blood, etc.) were not included in the norming study, as these types of items represent a mediated effect between the word itself and the emotion that is elicited by the word’s connotations. Research has shown that emotional and emotion-laden words are processed differently (see e.g., Altarriba and Basnight-Brown 2011, which indicates that mixing the two emotion types is also problematic). For these reasons, number-of-translation norms were collected only for words that specifically label an emotional state.
In an effort to determine which number of translations measure (i.e., average number of translations, first translation given, or all translations given) was the best predictor of translation speed, regression analyses were conducted using the response time data collected from a series of translation production experiments. To date, these alternative measures have not been examined in the bilingual literature with regards to the number of translations a word has across languages. For these reasons, linear regression analyses were conducted with each number-of-translations measure entered as a predictor. The data indicated that, overall, the number-of-translations data based on the first translation that a participant provided to a certain item appeared to be the best predictor of how fast they could translate that item. When the total number of translations given was taken into account, the all measure significantly predicted translation latencies from the NDL-DL direction. Across all experiments, the data consistently suggested that abstract word translation was more heavily influenced, as compared to concrete word translation, by the number of translations that characterize a word. The average method of scoring number of translations did not appear to be a significant predictor, although this measure did account for a small, yet significant amount of variance in emotion word translation only.
Data from the OSPAN task are not presented as a part of this report, as that task was not a particular focus for the current study.
An attempt was made to obtain arousal levels from the Bradley and Lang (1999) ANEW norms for the items used in Experiments 1 and 2, in order to determine whether the emotional stimuli were high in arousal and differed from the other two word types on this measure. However, this was not possible, as only a very small subset of the normed items could be found in the Bradley and Lang database. Because the current study focused on bilingual language processing, it seemed more important that the items normed on number of translations were those used in previous bilingual studies. All emotion words, however, were taken from Altarriba et al. (1999) in which these items were previously determined to be distinct from abstract words.
It is important to mention that emotion word processing in both languages was influenced by the valence of the emotion words. Specifically, positive emotion words (e.g., happy) showed equivalent translation latencies in both language directions. However, negative items (e.g., angry) showed a significant interaction between translation direction and word type (a difference of 137 ms) \(F(1,36)=5.016\), \(p<.05\). In the NDL-DL direction, emotion words were translated 63 ms slower than they were for abstract words. In the DL-NDL direction, the emotion words were translated 74 ms faster.
Although the overall word frequency of items was lower in the experiments conducted in the current study, as compared to the higher frequency items used by Tokowicz and Kroll, we also conducted an additional experiment using higher frequency items matched to those within their original study. In that experiment, we observed the same pattern of results that we report in Experiment 1 of the current study, suggesting that the finding here is replicated across different stimuli and bilingual samples.
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Appendices
Appendix 1
English and Spanish translations for the stimuli used in Experiment 1. For items with more than one translation, the expected (or dominant) translation is listed.
Concrete stimuli with one translation | Abstract stimuli with one translation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
apple | manzana | advantage | ventaja |
arm | brazo | attitude | actitud |
bee | abeja | beauty | belleza |
bone | hueso | blessing | bendición |
building | edificio | blind | ciego |
butter | mantequilla | carry | lleva |
candle | vela | die | morir |
chair | silla | dream | sueño |
clothes | ropa | easy | fácil |
cloud | nube | finish | terminar |
eye | ojo | guess | adivinar |
fire | fuego | hunger | hambre |
garden | jardín | lie | mentira |
keys | llaves | luck | suerte |
mirror | espejo | miracle | milagro |
moon | luna | peace | paz |
nose | nariz | repair | arreglo |
nurse | enfermera | run | correr |
pencil | lápiz | sin | pecado |
rain | lluvia | soul | alma |
shoulder | hombro | week | semana |
soap | jabón | win | ganar |
throat | garganta | yesterday | ayer |
winter | invierno | youth | juventud |
Concrete stimuli with \(>\)1 translation | Abstract stimuli with \(>\)1 translation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
balloon | globo | advice | consejo |
bird | pájaro | allow | permitir |
brush | cepillo | arrival | llegada |
burglar | ladrón | count | contar |
cake | torta | fault | culpa |
coat | abrigo | flight | vuelo |
coins | monedas | freedom | libertad |
forest | bosque | height | altura |
grass | hierba | joke | chiste |
hat | sombrero | length | longitud |
highway | carretera | lift | levantar |
jungle | selva | loan | préstamo |
lady | señora | noise | ruido |
pen | pluma | quiet | callado |
poison | veneno | sale | venta |
rug | alfombra | size | tamaño |
school | escuela | slim | flaco |
shop | tienda | struggle | lucha |
square | cuadrado | support | apoyo |
stone | piedra | travel | viajar |
supper | cena | treat | tratar |
truck | camión | weakness | debilidad |
umbrella | paraguas | wealth | riqueza |
watch | reloj | wisdom | sabiduría |
Appendix 2
English and Spanish translations for the stimuli used in Experiment 2. For items with more than one translation, the expected (or dominant) translation is listed.
Concrete stimuli with one translation | Abstract stimuli with one translation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
apple | manzana | advantage | ventaja |
arm | brazo | age | edad |
bee | abeja | attitude | actitud |
building | edificio | beauty | belleza |
butter | mantequilla | blessing | bendición |
carrot | zanahoria | blind | ciego |
chair | silla | carry | lleva |
clothes | ropa | die | morir |
cloud | nube | finish | terminar |
clown | payaso | guess | adivinar |
eye | ojo | heaven | cielo |
fire | fuego | hunger | hambre |
garden | jardín | lie | mentira |
grandmother | abuelo | luck | suerte |
keys | llaves | mind | mente |
moon | luna | miracle | milagro |
nose | nariz | repair | arreglo |
pencil | lápiz | sin | pecado |
pumpkins | calabazas | soul | alma |
rain | lluvia | south | sur |
scissors | tijeras | week | semana |
shoulder | hombro | win | ganar |
throat | garganta | yesterday | ayer |
winter | invierno | youth | juventud |
Concrete stimuli with \(>\)1 translation | Abstract stimuli with \(>\)1 translation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
balloon | globo | advice | consejo |
brush | cepillo | allow | permitir |
burglar | ladrón | arrival | llegada |
chin | barbilla | count | contar |
coat | abrigo | fault | culpa |
coins | monedas | flight | vuelo |
forest | bosque | freedom | libertad |
grass | hierba | height | altura |
hat | sombrero | joke | chiste |
highway | carretera | length | longitud |
jungle | selva | lift | levantar |
lady | señora | loan | préstamo |
lock | cerradura | noise | ruido |
orange | naranja | quiet | callado |
poison | veneno | sale | venta |
school | escuela | size | tamaño |
shop | tienda | slim | flaco |
socks | medias | struggle | lucha |
square | cuadrado | support | apoyo |
stone | piedra | thought | pensamiento |
supper | cena | travel | viajar |
truck | camión | treat | tratar |
umbrella | paraguas | weakness | debilidad |
watch | reloj | wealth | riqueza |
Emotion stimuli with \(>\) 1 translation | |
|---|---|
affection | cariño |
afraid | miedo |
angry | enojado |
annoy | molestado |
anxious | ansioso |
cheerful | alegre |
concerned | preocupado |
fear | temor |
glad | contento |
grateful | agradecido |
happy | feliz |
hope | esperanza |
hurt | herido |
jealous | celos |
joy | alegría |
lonely | soledad |
mad | enfadado |
scared | asustado |
sorry | apenado |
surprised | sorprendido |
troubled | molesto |
uncertain | incierto |
shame | vergüenza |
unhappy | infeliz |
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Basnight-Brown, D.M., Altarriba, J. Multiple Translations in Bilingual Memory: Processing Differences Across Concrete, Abstract, and Emotion Words. J Psycholinguist Res 45, 1219–1245 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-015-9400-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-015-9400-4