Doctoral Dissertation Research: Consequences of Translation Ambiguity for Bilingual Word Meaning

第二语言会影响双语者处理母语的方式吗？目前的项目对此进行了研究，特别关注双语者解释单词含义的方式。该项目利用了可以跨语言以多种方式翻译的单词的流行。例如，英语单词“watch”和“clock”都被翻译成西班牙语“reloj”。初步研究表明，双语者和单语者对这些词的理解是不同的。因此，这个项目测试了双语者是否认为像“手表-时钟”这样的单词对比单语者更相关。双语者和单语者在赋予词语意义上的这种细微差异对理解和生产产生了影响，也可以让我们了解双语者的两种语言之间的相互联系。为了检查这种跨语言的影响，目前的项目采用了两种方法，使研究人员能够在非常快的时间尺度上检查语言处理：眼球运动跟踪和大脑活动监测，这两种方法都提供了处理如何（或是否）中断的指标。在一个实验中，参与者会看到一些英语句子，在一些实验中，一个单词会被替换成一个与西班牙语翻译相同的单词（例如，“约翰手腕上戴着时钟”）。比较双语者和单语者对这类句子的阅读行为。如果两个翻译相同的单词变得与双语者更相似，那么他们的阅读行为（通过眼球运动来衡量）应该比单语英语者对异常现象的干扰更少。在第二个实验中，双语者将被呈现成对的单词，这些单词要么有相同的翻译，要么没有，同时他们的大脑反应被记录下来。对于双语者，而非单语者而言，增加的相关性有望促进对共享翻译对的处理，而不是对不同翻译对的处理。

Does a second language influence how bilinguals process their native language? The current project examines this, specifically focusing on the way that bilinguals interpret the meanings of words. This project capitalizes on the prevalence of words that can be translated in more than one way across languages. For example, the English words "watch" and "clock" are both translated into Spanish as "reloj". Preliminary research suggests that these words are thought of differently by bilinguals and monolinguals. Therefore, this project tests whether bilinguals consider word pairs like "watch-clock" to be more or less related than monolingual speakers do. Such subtle differences between bilinguals and monolinguals in the meanings they assign to words have consequences for comprehension and production, and also can inform our understanding of the interconnectivity between the two languages of bilinguals. To examine such cross-language influences, the current project employs two methods that allow researchers to examine language processing as it unfolds on a very rapid timescale: eye-movement tracking and brain activity monitoring, which both provide an index of how (or whether) processing is disrupted. In one experiment participants will be presented with English sentences in which, on some trials, a word will be replaced with a word that shares its Spanish translation (for example, "John wore the clock on his wrist"). Bilinguals' and monolinguals' reading behavior of such sentences will be compared. If two words that share a translation become more similar to bilinguals, their reading behavior, as indexed by eye movements, should show reduced disruption to the anomaly compared to monolingual English speakers. In a second experiment, bilinguals will be presented with pairs of words that either share a translation or do not, while their brain responses are recorded. Increased relatedness is expected to facilitate processing of pairs that share a translation compared to pairs with different translations, for bilinguals but not monolinguals.