Doctoral Dissertation Research: Effects of Within- and Cross-language Ambiguity on Word Learning and Processing

世界上大多数人都是双语者，这使得我们能够理解双语者和语言学习者如何在语言内部和跨语言处理语义模糊的单词。当一种语言中的一个词在另一种语言中有多个翻译时，就会发生跨语言翻译歧义。 以往的研究表明，语内歧义和跨语歧义都会影响第一语言（L1）和第二语言（L2）词汇的学习和加工。然而，很少有研究探讨歧义词之间的语义相似性如何影响母语和二语对语义歧义词和语义的习得和加工。在Tokowicz博士的指导下，Chelsea Eddington将在三个与事件相关的潜在/行为实验中研究这些问题。实验1将研究语义相似性如何影响对先前已知的无歧义单词形式的新含义的学习。记忆和语义启动任务将测试单词的新旧含义之间的语义相似性如何影响这些单词的学习和处理。实验二将通过词汇测试和语义相关性任务考察二语（德语）词汇的语义相似性对词汇学习和加工的影响。实验3将探讨如何学习者的德语延伸的含义从模糊的英语单词到德语词汇的单词，只教参与者一个翻译，对应于语义模糊的单词的一个含义。学习者的语义处理的话将使用一个解释识别任务进行评估。本研究的结果将提供一个更好的理解单语者和二语学习者如何处理和学习语义歧义词，并将通知单语和双语语义记忆模型。 该项目还将支持对一名有前途的语言学者进行科学培训。

The majority of people in the world are bilingual, which gives importance to our ability to understand how bilinguals and language learners process semantically-ambiguous words both within and across languages. Cross-language translation ambiguity occurs when a word in one language has more than one translation in another language. Previous research indicates that within- and cross-language ambiguity both affect the learning and processing of words in the first language (L1) and in the second language (L2). However, little research has explored how the similarity in meaning between ambiguous words' meanings affects the acquisition and processing of semantically-ambiguous words and meanings in L1 and L2. Under the direction of Dr. Tokowicz, Chelsea Eddington will examine these issues in three event related potential/behavioral experiments. Experiment 1 will examine how semantic similarity impacts the learning of novel meanings for previously-known unambiguous word forms. Memory and semantic priming tasks will test how semantic similarity between the words' novel and old meanings affects the learning and processing of these words. Experiment 2 will examine how semantic similarity of L2 (German) vocabulary affects the learning and processing of these words using vocabulary tests and a semantic relatedness task. Experiment 3 will examine how learners of German extend meanings from ambiguous English words to German vocabulary words by teaching participants only one translation that corresponds to one meaning of semantically-ambiguous words. Learners' semantic processing of the words will be assessed using a translation-recognition task. The results of this study will provide a better understanding of how monolinguals and L2 learners process and learn semantically-ambiguous words, and will inform models of monolingual and bilingual semantic memory. The project will also support the scientific training of a promising linguistic scholar.