Explores the processing implications of bi-scriptalism. (EKN)

An important psycholinguistic discussion centers on the question of whether bilinguals use the same representations and mechanisms for the languages they speak (the interactive view) or whether the representations and mechanisms for each language are kept strictly separated (the modular view). Empirical investigations of this question have focused…

Two experiments investigated the processing and representation of Dutch compound words as a function of their semantic transparency. The results provided clear evidence for the sensitivity of the lexical processing system to morphological complexity, independent of semantic transparency. (50 references) (MDM)

Summarizes the results of Finnish studies dealing with single-word experiments with aphasics as well as lexical decisions and eye-movement registration tests performed on normals. It then proposes a processing model for Finnish nouns, Stem Allomorph/Inflectional Decomposition (SAID), which predicts that both inflected and productive derived forms…

Demonstrates how the definition of "simple attachment" and "tree lowering," operations related to the grammatical composition operations of "substitution" and "adjunction" in the Tree Adjoining Grammar formalism, yields a parser more constrained than previous description theory based models. The article…

Present results of a longitudinal study of vocabulary development as it takes place in a classroom setting involving elementary-level Swedish-speaking learners of English. The study used spew tests requiring pupils to write down as many words as they could in one minute that began with a given letter. (Author/LMO)

On-line comprehension studies of flexible word-order languages find that noncanonical ("scrambled") structures induce more difficulty than canonical structures [e.g., Hyona & Hujanen, "Q. J. Exp. Psychol." 50A (1997) 841-858], with this difference being attributed to the structural complexity/infrequency of these forms. However, by presenting…

A study investigated word recognition processes of Greek/English bilinguals in relation to linguistic and syntactic differences in the languages, then compared those processes with those of monolinguals. Bilingual readers performed differently in the languages, conforming more to monolingual patterns in their native language (Greek), interpreted…

In this study, metalinguistic ability is studied in terms of dual skill components: control of linguistic processing and analysis of linguistic knowledge. English-Swedish bilinguals (n=38), assigned to two groups according to relative proficiency, and 16 Swedish monolinguals, aged 6 to 7 years, received three tasks: symbol substitution,…

Shows that native-speaking Arabic readers produce search functions that are radically different from the search functions of readers whose script uses the Roman alphabet (RAs). The processes used by Arabic readers are more akin to the processes used by RAs when searching arrays of shapes. (Author/LMO)

A study investigated differences in English word recognition in native speakers of Indonesian (an alphabetic language) and Chinese (a logographic languages) learning English as a Second Language. Results largely confirmed the hypothesis that an alphabetic first language would predict better word recognition in speakers of an alphabetic language,…

This study investigated whether "avoidance" is an appropriate term to describe the linguistic behavior in which the learner with a particular first-language (L1) background tries to underproduce or underrepresent a particular second-language (L2) structure. The first section seeks to establish the general psycholinguistic principle that…

A study examines differences in lexical processing in first and second languages through error patterns in speech. The investigation assumes that although the internal planning of speech cannot be examined, it is manifested in output errors, such as slips of the tongue, writing errors, aphasic speech, and some temporal properties of speech, and…

This volume focuses on the psycholinguistic aspects of language transfer when three languages are in contact, and provides an overview of the state of the art in cross-linguistic influence in third language acquisition. This edited volume contains, in addition to an introduction, ten chapters. Chapter titles include the following: "The Effect of…

At irregular intervals, beginning in 1977, Swedish-Finnish conferences on contrastive and applied linguistics have been arranged in Stockholm and Turko/Abo. This volume presents most of the papers given at the 1982 conference. Papers include: "Free Recall of Mixed Language Lists. Error Patterns in Bilingual Memory" (Karin Aronsson, Anja Metsola,…