The elusive impact of L2 immersion on translation priming

Abstract

A growing consensus sees the bilingual lexicon as an integrated, nonselective system. However, the way bilingual experience shapes the architecture and functioning of the lexicon is not well understood. This study investigates bilingual lexical-semantic representation and processing employing written translation priming. We focus on the role of active exposure to and use of the second language (L2)—primarily operationalized as immersion. We tested 200 highly proficient Spanish–English bilinguals in two groups differing in their societal language (immersed vs. nonimmersed) and amount of L2 use. L2 proficiency was controlled across participants, allowing us to disentangle its effects from those of L2 use. Overall, however, the immersion’s impact on our data was minimal. This suggests a ceiling effect for the influence of active L2 use on bilingual lexical functioning when L2 development is maximal. The present data provide relevant insights into the nature of the bilingual lexicon, informing developmental models.

Lexical access to unadapted English loanwords in Croatian: evidence from translation priming

“…However, the effect of language direction was not significant, meaning that the effects in both directions were of similar strength. This is unexpected, since previous studies have generally found a smaller translation priming effect in the L2-L1 direction (Chaouch-Orozco et al, 2022;review in Wen & van Heuven, 2017), even in balanced bilinguals (Basnight-Brown & Altarriba, 2007;see Duñabeitia et al, 2010, for different results).…”

Are translation equivalents really equivalent? Evidence from concreteness effects in translation priming

“…Participants 200 highly proficient, late sequential Spanish-English bilinguals (164 females, 36 males) were tested in two lexical decision experiments, one for each translation direction (see Table 1 for participants characteristics). The main focus in Chaouch-Orozco et al (2022) was to investigate how immersion in the second language affected priming effects. To this purpose, participants were divided into two equally large groups manipulating this factor (i.e., immersed vs nonimmersed).…”

“…The present study aims to make a significant contribution in this regard. We re-analysed a translation priming dataset from Chaouch-Orozco et al (2022). Their study followed up on a previous investigation on the role of language experience on translation priming effects (Chaouch-Orozco et al, 2021), with a more comprehensive scope.…”

“…Their study followed up on a previous investigation on the role of language experience on translation priming effects (Chaouch-Orozco et al, 2021), with a more comprehensive scope. Chaouch-Orozco et al (2022) tested 200 highly proficient Spanish-English unbalanced bilinguals, using 314 non-cognate translation equivalent pairs, providing the largest dataset in the translation priming literature to date. Their study solely focused on the role of L1/L2 experience on priming, which was manipulated through immersion.…”

“…"LSBQ" column shows composite L2 use score across contexts (home, social, etc. ).Materials314 non-cognate translation equivalents were used to create the critical stimuli (see the complete list inChaouch-Orozco et al, 2022; see Table…”