The effect of bilingualism on semantic processing

虽然在理解双语对语言加工的影响方面已经取得了很大的进展，但关于双语对语义加工和结构的影响仍有许多有待理解的地方。此外，研究刚刚开始探索双语者之间的个体差异，如习得年龄和熟练程度，可能会影响语义功能。我的研究计划将通过三组实验来解决这些问题。*第一组实验将使用事件相关电位(ERP)和行为方法来研究来自每种语言的语义信息对双语者词汇加工的影响。具体地说，我将研究语义丰富对单词识别的影响。语义丰富度指的是与一个单词相关的信息量；之前的研究(包括我的研究)已经证明，与更多信息相关的单词被更有效地处理。我将考察(A)双语者使用语义丰富信息的方式是否与单语者相同；以及(B)来自不使用的语言(非目标语)的语义信息是否会影响目标语的加工。例如，法语语义丰富的项目在英语中的处理效率更高吗？*第二组实验将研究不同第二语言熟练程度、习得年龄和使用情况的双语者的神经认知特征，并研究这种特征如何影响语言表现。我将使用行为学和事件相关电位方法来检验(1)习得年龄、第二语言熟练程度和当前第二语言使用情况对语言和执行功能评估任务表现的影响，以及(2)双语者执行功能和语言表现之间的相互作用。*第三组实验将使用计算模型来考察双语词典的语义结构，即不同的信息来源如何驱动语义获取和加工。具体地说，我们将使用分布模型来分析习得年龄、第二语言熟练程度和当前使用对言语流利性和视觉词汇决定的表现的贡献。*这项研究将提供关于语言经验对语言加工影响的重要新信息。虽然许多研究探索了语义信息对单语者词语加工的影响，但对双语者的影响知之甚少。此外，双语者特有的特征(习得年龄、第二语言熟练程度和使用)影响着两种语言的处理，这是我们刚刚开始了解的方式。这里提出的研究将回答这些问题。

While much progress has been made in understanding the effects of bilingualism on language processing, much remains to be understood about how bilingualism impacts semantic processing and structure. Moreover, research has just begin to explore how individual differences between bilinguals, such as age of acquisition and proficiency, might affect semantic function. My program of research will address these questions through three sets of experiments. ******The first set of experiments will use event-related potential (ERP) and behavioural methodologies to study the influence of semantic information from each language on word processing in bilinguals. Specifically, I will examine the effects of semantic richness on word recognition. Semantic richness refers to the amount of information associated with a word; previous research (including mine) has demonstrated that words with more information associated to them are processed more efficiently. I will examine (a) whether bilinguals use semantic richness information in the same way as monolinguals; and (b) whether semantic information from the language that is not in use (non-target language) affects processing of the target language. For example, are items of high French semantic richness processed more efficiently in English?******The second set of experiments will study the neurocognitive profile of bilinguals of differing second language proficiency, age of acquisition, and use, and examine how this profile affects language performance. I will use behavioural and ERP methodologies to examine (1) the effects of age of acquisition, proficiency in the second language, and current use of the second language, on performance in tasks assessing language and executive function, and (2) the interaction between executive function and language performance in bilinguals. ******The third set of experiments will use computational modeling to examine the semantic structure of the bilingual lexicon, or how different informational sources drive semantic access and processing. Specifically, we will use distributional models to analyze the contributions of age of acquisition, and second langauge proficiency and current use to performance on verbal fluency and visual lexical decision.******This research program will provide important new information about the impact of language experience on language processing. While much research has explored the impact of semantic information on word processing in monolinguals, much less is known about the effects in bilinguals. Moreover, characteristics specific to bilinguals (age of acquisition, L2 proficiency and use) influence processing in both languages, in ways we are just beginning to understand. The research proposed here will answer these questions.