Premium
Are phonological representations in bilinguals language specific? An ERP study on interlingual homophones
Author(s) -
CarrascoOrtiz Haydee,
Midgley Katherine J.,
FrenckMestre Cheryl
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
psychophysiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.661
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1469-8986
pISSN - 0048-5772
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-8986.2011.01333.x
Subject(s) - homophone , psychology , linguistics , phonology , cognitive psychology , philosophy
Abstract Event‐related potentials ( ERPs ) served to investigate whether phonological representations from both the first ( L 1) and second ( L 2) language of bilinguals are activated during silent reading of L 2 words. F rench‐ E nglish late bilinguals and control monolingual E nglish speakers read interlingual homophones (e.g., “knee” in E nglish, which has substantial phonological overlap with the F rench word “ nid ,” meaning “nest”) and matched control words. Results showed a reduction in N 400 amplitude in response to interlingual homophones in comparison to control words for bilinguals, but not for E nglish monolinguals. The reduced N 400 response to homophones in bilinguals suggests facilitation of word recognition. These results suggest parallel activation of both L 1 and L 2 phonological representations when reading silently in the L 2. These findings point to a language nonspecific model for bilinguals at the phonological level of representation.