Collaborative Research: Cross-Language Lexical Interaction

语言的不同之处在于它们如何通过标记物体和事件来划分世界。例如，与英文单词“sofa”最接近的中文单词包括有软垫的单人座椅，而与英文单词“chair”最接近的中文单词仅限于由坚硬材料（如木材）制成的无软垫座椅。学习两种语言的人是如何处理这种差异的？他们是在每种语言中发展出不同的将单词与世界联系起来的方式，还是他们学习了一种与两种语言中的单语者完全不匹配的单一独特的方式？在这个项目中，研究人员试图了解，在双语思维中语言互动的更广泛背景下，一个人的母语（L1）的词汇使用模式如何影响第二语言（L2）的词汇使用模式，母语知识本身如何随着第二语言知识的增加而变化，以及一种语言的波动经验和知识如何为语言互动的发生创造条件。该项目将使用行为研究和计算模型来探索一组认知变量（接触每种语言的年龄、熟练程度和接触每种语言的类型）对双语词汇知识的独特和共同贡献。随着全球化的发展，越来越多的人会说两种或多种语言。对个体语言互动的研究对理解双语者的语言交流、社会融合以及随之而来的职业机会具有重要意义，并可能为设计学习干预措施以提高语言能力提供有用的信息。拟议的工作将整合两个合作地点（宾夕法尼亚州立大学和利哈伊大学）的研究和教育。这项研究还涉及美国、欧洲和中国科学家之间的国际合作。该项目的跨学科性质将吸引心理学、语言学、认知和计算科学领域的学生，尤其为双语和双文化背景的学生提供机会。

Languages differ in how they carve up the world by their labeling of objects and events. For example, the Chinese word closest to the English word "sofa" includes padded, upholstered seats for one person, while the Chinese word closest to the English word "chair" is limited to unpadded seating made of hard materials, such as wood. How do people learning two languages handle such differences? Do they develop separate ways of connecting words to the world in each language or do they learn a single and unique way that does not fully match monolinguals in either language? In this project, the investigators attempt to understand, within the broader context of language interaction in the bilingual mind, how the pattern of word use in one's first language (L1) can influence that in the second language (L2), how L1 knowledge itself can change as L2 knowledge increases, and how the fluctuating experience and knowledge of one language can create the conditions for language interactions to occur. The project will use both behavioral studies and computational modeling to explore the unique and joint contributions of a set of cognitive variables (age of exposure to each language, proficiency in each, and the type of exposure to each) to bilingual lexical knowledge.As globalization advances, more peopleare becoming bilingual or multilingual. The study of language interaction in individuals has implications for understanding the bilingual person's verbal communication, social integration, and consequent career opportunities and may yield information useful for designing learning interventions to improve language proficiency. The proposed work will integrate research and education across the two collaborative sites (Pennsylvania State University and Lehigh University). The research also involves international collaborations between scientists in the US, Europe, and China. The cross-disciplinary nature of the project should attract students from psychology, linguistics, and cognitive and computational sciences, providing opportunities particularly to students from bilingual and bi-cultural backgrounds.