Investigated whether bilinguals simultaneously activate phonological representations from both of their languages when reading words in just one. Critical stimuli were interlingual homographs that were low in frequency in the target language of the study (English) and high in frequency in the nontarget language (French) (Author/VWL)

Argues that facts of phonological and morphological interference can be satisfactorily accounted for only by a theory that treats local, morphologically dependent alternations in the morphological component of the grammar and global automatic alternations in the phonology with phonotactically motivated repair mechanisms and not with what are…

The present study compared the performance of 44 Latino children on the Competing Language Processing Task (CLPT; C. Gaulin & T. Campbell, 1994) and the Dual Processing Comprehension Task (DPCT; S. Ellis Weismer, 1996). First, it was of interest to know if there were significant differences between children with and without bilingual proficiency…

The purpose of this study was to design a model for "first language" dominance over "second language" performance and the interference of one language over the other. Two sets of equivalence relations showing a common element (i.e., the reference) were established under different contextual conditions. One set ("first language") was over trained…

In four experiments we explored processes underlying L2 gender retrieval. We focused on L1 interference and on the influence of the L2 noun's termination. In Experiments 1 and 2 we tried to manipulate the intensity of L1 interference. We found that L2 speakers cannot eliminate or substantially reduce the interlingual interference neither when they…

This paper discusses the language contact situation between Algonquian languages and French in Canada. Michif, a French-Plains Cree mixed language, is used as a case study for linguistic results of language contact. The paper describes the phonological, morphological, and syntactic conflict sites between the grammars of Plains Cree and French, as…

This study investigates the interface between speech and gesture in second language (L2) narration within Slobin's (2003) thinking-for-speaking (TFS) framework as well as with respect to McNeill's (1992, 2005) growth point (GP) hypothesis. Specifically, our interest is in whether speakers shift from a first language (L1) to a L2 TFS pattern as…

Considers the various usages of 'interesting' in English as a problem confronted by non-native English speakers learning the language. (LG)

It was hypothesized that distinct conceptual relationships are better displayed in a unitary complex science diagram relative to a text description. A second hypothesis stated that the placement of a textual description adjacent to a unitary complex science diagram generally will divert the learners' attention to the theoretically less effective…

Reviews literature on language transfer and language universals. Defines language universals as those linguistic elements which are common to all languages. Discusses language transfer and language universals as interacting phenomena. Concludes that language universals serve as an overall guiding principle in second language acquisition,…

Claims that the mother tongue function in foreign language learning over a background of two or more languages is transferable to any one of the background languages and that this transfer is predictable by a set of principles. Presents applications of the principles to multilingual settings of Nigeria and Cameroon. (SED)

The authors induced tip-of-the-tongue states (TOTs) for English words in monolinguals and bilinguals using picture stimuli with cognate (e.g., vampire, which is vampiro in Spanish) and noncognate (e.g., funnel, which is embudo in Spanish) names. Bilinguals had more TOTs than did monolinguals unless the target pictures had translatable cognate…

Speakers are regularly confronted with the choice among lexical alternatives when referring to objects, including basic-level names (e.g., car) and subordinate-level names (e.g., Beetle). Which of these names is eventually selected often depends on contextual factors. The present article reports a series of picture-word interference experiments…

How does the development and consolidation of perceptual, attentional, and higher cognitive abilities interact with language acquisition and processing? We explored children's (ages 5-17) and adults' (ages 18-51) comprehension of morphosyntactically varied sentences under several competing speech conditions that varied in the degree of attentional…