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词义的方式。该项目利用了可以跨语言以一种以上方式翻译的单词的盛行。例如，英文单词“watch”和“lock”在西班牙语中都被翻译为“Reloj”。初步研究表明，双语者和单语者对这些词的看法是不同的。因此，这个项目测试双语者是否认为像“Watch-Clock”这样的词对与单语使用者有更多或更少的联系。双语者和单语者在赋予单词的意义上的这种细微差异会对理解和产出产生影响，也可以帮助我们理解双语者两种语言之间的相互联系。为了检测这种跨语言的影响，目前的项目采用了两种方法，使研究人员能够在语言处理以非常快的时间尺度展开时检查它：眼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)被干扰的指数。在一个实验中，参与者将看到一些英语句子，在一些实验中，一个单词将被一个与西班牙语翻译相同的单词取代(例如，约翰在他的手腕上佩戴了时钟)。对比双语者和单语者对这类句子的阅读行为。如果翻译相同的两个单词变得更接近双语者，他们的阅读行为，根据眼球运动的索引，与只说一种语言的英语使用者相比，应该会显示出对这种异常的较少干扰。在第二个实验中，双语者将被呈现给两个单词对，这些单词要么共享一个翻译，要么不共享，同时记录他们的大脑反应。对于双语者而不是单语者来说，与具有不同翻译的对相比，增加的关联性有望促进对共享翻译的对的处理。

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.