Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-05T18:01:14.881Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - Cognate Processing Effects in Bilingual Lexical Access

from Part II - Bilingual Lexical Processing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 December 2019

By
Agnieszka Lijewska
Edited by
Roberto R. Heredia  and
Anna B. Cieślicka
Roberto R. Heredia
Affiliation:
Texas A & M University
Anna B. Cieślicka
Affiliation:
Texas A & M University
Get access

Summary

One of the crucial questions in bilingual research is whether all languages known to a bilingual speaker are coactivated during language processing. Psycholinguists have frequently addressed this issue by comparing processing patterns of words shared across languages with the processing of language-specific items. The present chapter offers a brief review of studies investigating the processing of cognates (i.e., words that share form and meaning across languages) and noncognates, followed by a discussion of factors affecting cognate processing in bilingual research. The influence of these factors is discussed with respect to the type of cognates involved in the materials, task demands, and, finally, in terms of participants’ individual differences.

Keywords

cognate facilitation effectcognate switch-facilitation effectscontext effectscross-language competitiondominant languageeffect sizelanguage controllanguage nonselectivetrilingual
Type
Chapter
Information
Bilingual Lexical Ambiguity Resolution , pp. 71 - 95
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Reading

De Angelis, G. (2007). Third or additional language acquisition. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T., & van Heuven, W. J. B. (2018). Visual word recognition in multilinguals. In Rueschemeyer, S.-A. & Gaskell, M. G. (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of psycholinguistics (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Grosjean, F., & Li, P. (2013). The psycholinguistics of bilingualism (1st ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Otwinowska-Kasztelanic, A. (2015). Cognate vocabulary in language acquisition and use. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Tokowicz, N. (2014). Lexical processing and second language acquisition. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar

References

Acheson, D. J., Ganushchak, L. Y., Christoffels, I. K., & Hagoort, P. (2012). Conflict monitoring in speech production: Physiological evidence from bilingual picture naming. Brain and Language, 123(2), 131–136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2012.08.008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blumenfeld, H. K., & Marian, V. (2005). Covert bilingual language activation through cognate processing: An eye-tracking study. In Bara, B. G, Barsalou, L. W., and Bucciarelli, M. (Eds.), Proceedings of the XXVII Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 286–291). Mahwah, NJ: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Bowers, J. S., Mimouni, Z., & Arguin, M. (2000). Orthography plays a critical role in cognate priming: Evidence from French/English and Arabic/French cognates. Memory and Cognition, 28(8), 1289–1296. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03211829Google Scholar
Broersma, M. (2009). Triggered codeswitching between cognate languages. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12(04), 447–462. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728909990204CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broersma, M., Carter, D., & Acheson, D. J. (2016). Cognate costs in bilingual speech production: Evidence from language switching. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01461CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broersma, M., & De Bot, K. (2006). Triggered codeswitching: A corpus-based evaluation of the original triggering hypothesis and a new alternative. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 9(01), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728905002348Google Scholar
Bultena, S., Dijkstra, T., & van Hell, J. G. (2013). Cognate and word class ambiguity effects in noun and verb processing. Language and Cognitive Processes, 28(9), 1350–1377. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690965.2012.718353CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bultena, S., Dijkstra, T., & van Hell, J. G. (2014). Cognate effects in sentence context depend on word class, L2 proficiency, and task. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 67(6), 1214–1241. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470218.2013.853090CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Christoffels, I., De Groot, A. M. B., & Kroll, J. F. (2006). Memory and language skills in simultaneous interpreters: The role of expertise and language proficiency. Journal of Memory and Language, 54(3), 324–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2005.12.004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christoffels, I. K., Firk, C., & Schiller, N. O. (2007). Bilingual language control: An event-related brain potential study. Brain Research, 1147, 192–208.Google Scholar
Clyne, M. (1980). Triggering and language processing. Canadian Journal of Psychology/Revue Canadienne de Psychologie, 34(4), 400–406. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0081102Google Scholar
Clyne, M. (2003). Dynamics of language contact: English and immigrant languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Colomé, À., & Miozzo, M. (2010). Which words are activated during bilingual word production? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36(1), 96–109. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017677Google ScholarPubMed
Comesaña, M., Coelho, R., Oliveira, H., & Paula Soares, A. (2018). How letter order is encoded in bilingual reading? The role of deviant-letter position in cognate word recognition. Speech, Language and Hearing, 21(2), 90–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/2050571X.2017.1369049Google Scholar
Comesaña, M., Ferré, P., Romero, J., Guasch, M., Soares, A. P., & García-Chico, T. (2015). Facilitative effect of cognate words vanishes when reducing the orthographic overlap: The role of stimuli list composition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 41(3), 614–635. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000065Google ScholarPubMed
Comesaña, M., Sánchez-Casas, R., Soares, A. P., Pinheiro, A. P., Rauber, A., Frade, S., & Fraga, I. (2012). The interplay of phonology and orthography in visual cognate word recognition: An ERP study. Neuroscience Letters, 529(1), 75–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2012.09.010CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Comesaña, M., Soares, A. P., Sánchez-Casas, R., & Lima, C. (2012). Lexical and semantic representations in the acquisition of L2 cognate and non-cognate words: Evidence from two learning methods in children. British Journal of Psychology, 103(3), 378–392. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.2044-8295.2011.02080.xGoogle Scholar
Cop, U., Dirix, N., van Assche, E., Drieghe, D., & Duyck, W. (2017). Reading a book in one or two languages? An eye movement study of cognate facilitation in L1 and L2 reading. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 20(04), 747–769. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728916000213Google Scholar
Costa, A., Caramazza, A., & Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2000). The cognate facilitation effect: Implications for models of lexical access. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 26(5), 1283–1296.Google Scholar
Costa, A., Miozzo, M., & Caramazza, A. (1999). Lexical selection in bilinguals: Do words in the bilingual’s two lexicons compete for selection? Journal of Memory and Language, 41(3), 365–397.Google Scholar
Costa, A., Santesteban, M., & Caño, A. (2005). On the facilitatory effects of cognate words in bilingual speech production. Brain and Language, 94(1), 94–103.Google Scholar
De Groot, A. M. B., & Keijzer, R. (2000). What is hard to learn is easy to forget: The roles of word concreteness, cognate status, and word frequency in foreign-language vocabulary learning and forgetting. Language Learning, 50(1), 1–56. https://doi.org/10.1111/0023–8333.00110CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Groot, A. M. B., & Nas, G. L. J. (1991). Lexical representation of cognates and noncognates in compound bilinguals. Journal of Memory and Language, 30(1), 90–123. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-596X(91)90012–9Google Scholar
Declerck, M., Koch, I., & Philipp, A. M. (2012). Digits vs. pictures: The influence of stimulus type on language switching. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15(04), 896–904. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728912000193CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Degani, T., Prior, A., & Hajajra, W. (2018). Cross-language semantic influences in different script bilinguals. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21(4), 782–804. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728917000311CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dijkstra, T., Grainger, J., & van Heuven, W. J. B. (1999). Recognition of cognates and interlingual homographs: The neglected role of phonology. Journal of Memory and Language, 41(4), 496–518. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1999.2654Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T., Miwa, K., Brummelhuis, B., Sappelli, M., & Baayen, H. (2010). How cross-language similarity and task demands affect cognate recognition. Journal of Memory and Language, 62(3), 284–301.Google Scholar
Dijkstra, T., & van Heuven, W. J. B. (2002). The architecture of the bilingual word recognition system: From identification to decision. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 5(03), 175–197. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728902003012CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duñabeitia, J. A., Dimitropoulou, M., Dowens, M. G., Molinaro, N., & Martin, C. (2016). The electrophysiology of the bilingual brain. In Heredia, R. R., Altarriba, J., & Cieślicka, A. B. (Eds.), Methods in bilingual reading comprehension research (pp. 265–312). New York: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978–1-4939–2993-1_11CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duyck, W., van Assche, E., & Hartsuiker, R. (2007). Visual word recognition by bilinguals in a sentence context: Evidence for nonselective lexical access. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 33(4), 663–679.Google Scholar
Friel, B. M., & Kennison, S. M. (2001). Identifying German–English cognates, false cognates, and non-cognates: Methodological issues and descriptive norms. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4(03) 249-274. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728901000438Google Scholar
García, A. M., Ibanez, A., Huepe, D., Houck, A. L., Michon, M., Lezama, C. G., … & Rivera-Rei, A. (2014). Word reading and translation in bilinguals: the impact of formal and informal translation expertise. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01302Google Scholar
Gullifer, J. W., Kroll, J. F., & Dussias, P. E. (2013). When language switching has no apparent cost: Lexical access in sentence context. Frontiers in Psychology, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00278CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hoshino, N., & Kroll, J. F. (2008). Cognate effects in picture naming: Does cross-language activation survive a change of script? Cognition, 106(1), 501–511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2007.02.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ivanova, I., & Costa, A. (2008). Does bilingualism hamper lexical access in speech production? Acta Psychologica, 127(2), 277–288.Google Scholar
Kootstra, G. J., van Hell, J. G., & Dijkstra, T. (2012). Priming of code-switches in sentences: The role of lexical repetition, cognates, and language proficiency. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15(04), 797–819. https://doi.org/10.1017/S136672891100068XGoogle Scholar
Kroll, J. F., Dijkstra, T., Janssen, T., & Schriefers, H. (2000). Selecting the language in which to speak: Experiments on lexical access in bilingual production. Paper presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New Orleans, LA, November 16–19.Google Scholar
Kroll, J. F., & Stewart, E. (1994). Category interference in translation and picture naming: Evidence for asymmetric connections between bilingual memory representations. Journal of Memory and Language, 33(2), 149–174. https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1994.1008CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lauro, J., & Schwartz, A. I. (2017). Bilingual non-selective lexical access in sentence contexts: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Memory and Language, 92, 217–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2016.06.010Google Scholar
Lemhöfer, K., Dijkstra, T., Baayen, R. H., Grainger, J., & Zwitserlood, P. (2008). Native language influences on word recognition in a second language: A megastudy. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 34(1), 12–31. https://doi.org/10.1037/0278–7393.34.1.12Google Scholar
Lemhöfer, K., Dijkstra, T., & Michel, M. C. (2004). Three languages, one ECHO: Cognate effects in trilingual word recognition. Language and Cognitive Processes, 19(5), 585–611. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690960444000007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lemhöfer, K., Huestegge, L., & Mulder, K. (2018). Another cup of TEE? The processing of second language near-cognates in first language reading. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 33(8), 968–991. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2018.1433863Google Scholar
Li, C., & Gollan, T. H. (2018a). Cognates facilitate switches and then confusion: Contrasting effects of cascade versus feedback on language selection. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 44(6), 974–991. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0000497Google ScholarPubMed
Li, C., & Gollan, T. H. (2018b). Cognates interfere with language selection but enhance monitoring in connected speech. Memory and Cognition, 46(6), 923–939. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-018–0812–xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Libben, M. R., & Titone, D. A. (2009). Bilingual lexical access in context: Evidence from eye movements during reading. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 35(2), 381–390.Google Scholar
Lijewska, A., & Chmiel, A. (2015). Cognate facilitation in sentence context – translation production by interpreting trainees and non-interpreting trilinguals. International Journal of Multilingualism, 12(3), 358–375. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2014.959961Google Scholar
Lotto, L., & De Groot, A. M. B. (1998). Effects of learning method and word type on acquiring vocabulary in an unfamiliar language. Language Learning, 48(1), 31–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mieszkowska, K., & Otwinowska-Kasztelanic, A. (2015). Is A2 in German better than B2 in French when reading Danish? The role of prior language knowledge when faced with an unknown language. In De Angelis, G., Jessner, U., & Kresic, M. (Eds.), Crosslinguistic influence and crosslinguistic interaction in multilingual language learning (pp. 213–234). London: Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474235884Google Scholar
Myers-Scotton, C. (2005). Multiple voices: An introduction to bilingualism (1st ed.). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Nakayama, M., Verdonschot, R. G., Sears, C. R., & Lupker, S. J. (2014). The masked cognate translation priming effect for different-script bilinguals is modulated by the phonological similarity of cognate words: Further support for the phonological account. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 26(7), 714–724. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2014.953167Google Scholar
Otwinowska, A., & Szewczyk, J. M. (2017). The more similar the better? Factors in learning cognates, false cognates and non-cognate words. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. https://doi.org/10.1080/13670050.2017.1325834Google Scholar
Otwinowska-Kasztelanic, A. (2009). Raising awareness of cognate vocabulary as a strategy in teaching English to Polish adults. Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 3(2), 131–147. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501220802283186CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peeters, D., Dijkstra, T., & Grainger, J. (2013). The representation and processing of identical cognates by late bilinguals: RT and ERP effects. Journal of Memory and Language, 68(4), 315–332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2012.12.003Google Scholar
Pivneva, I., Mercier, J., & Titone, D. (2014). Executive control modulates cross-language lexical activation during L2 reading: Evidence from eye movements. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 40(3), 787–796. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035583Google Scholar
Poarch, G. J., & van Hell, J. G. (2012). Cross-language activation in children’s speech production: Evidence from second language learners, bilinguals, and trilinguals. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 111(3), 419–438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2011.09.008Google Scholar
Poarch, G. J., & van Hell, J. G. (2014). Cross-language activation in same-script and different-script trilinguals. International Journal of Bilingualism, 18(6), 693–716.Google Scholar
Poort, E. D., & Rodd, J. M. (2017). The cognate facilitation effect in bilingual lexical decision is influenced by stimulus list composition. Acta Psychologica, 180, 52–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2017.08.008CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Poort, E. D., Warren, J. E., & Rodd, J. M. (2016). Recent experience with cognates and interlingual homographs in one language affects subsequent processing in another language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(01), 206–212. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728915000395Google Scholar
Pureza, R., Soares, A. P., & Comesaña, M. (2016). Cognate status, syllable position and word length on bilingual Tip-Of-the-Tongue states induction and resolution. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 19(03), 533–549. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728915000206CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santesteban, M., & Costa, A. (2016). Are cognate words “special”?: On the role of cognate words in language switching performance. In Schwieter, J. W. (Ed.), Bilingual processing and acquisition, Vol. 2 (pp. 97–126). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.2.05sanGoogle Scholar
Schepens, J., Dijkstra, T., & Grootjen, F. (2012). Distributions of cognates in Europe as based on Levenshtein distance. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 15(01), 157–166. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728910000623Google Scholar
Schwartz, A. I., & Kroll, J. F. (2006). Bilingual lexical activation in sentence context. Journal of Memory and Language, 55(2), 197–212. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2006.03.004Google Scholar
Starreveld, P. A., De Groot, A. M. B., Rossmark, B. M. M., & van Hell, J. G. (2014). Parallel language activation during word processing in bilinguals: Evidence from word production in sentence context. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 17(02), 258–276. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728913000308Google Scholar
Strijkers, K., Costa, A., & Thierry, G. (2010). Tracking lexical access in speech production: electrophysiological correlates of word frequency and cognate effects. Cerebral Cortex, 20(4), 912–928. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhp153Google Scholar
Szubko-Sitarek, W. (2011). Cognate facilitation effects in trilingual word recognition. Studies in Second Language, 1(2), 189–208.Google Scholar
Szubko-Sitarek, W. (2015). Multilingual lexical recognition in the mental lexicon of third language users. New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tessel, C. A., Levy, E. S., Gitterman, M., & Shafer, V. L. (2018). Neurophysiological indices of the effect of cognates on vowel perception in late Spanish-English bilinguals. Journal of Phonetics, 68, 117–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wocn.2018.03.004Google Scholar
Titone, D., Libben, M., Mercier, J., Whitford, V., & Pivneva, I. (2011). Bilingual lexical access during L1 sentence reading: The effects of L2 knowledge, semantic constraint, and L1–L2 intermixing. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 37(6), 1412–1431. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024492Google Scholar
Tokowicz, N., Kroll, J. F., De Groot, A. M. B., & van Hell, J. G. (2002). Number-of-translation norms for Dutch—English translation pairs: A new tool for examining language production. Behavior Research Methods, 34(3), 435–451.Google Scholar
Tonzar, C., Lotto, L., & Job, R. (2009). L2 vocabulary acquisition in children: Effects of learning method and cognate status. Language Learning, 59(3), 623–646.Google Scholar
van Assche, E., Drieghe, D., Duyck, W., Welvaert, M., & Hartsuiker, R. J. (2011). The influence of semantic constraints on bilingual word recognition during sentence reading. Journal of Memory and Language, 64(1), 88–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Assche, E., Duyck, W., & Brysbaert, M. (2013). Verb processing by bilinguals in sentence contexts. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 35(02), 237–259. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263112000873Google Scholar
van Assche, E., Duyck, W., Hartsuiker, R. J., & Diependaele, K. (2009). Does bilingualism change native-language reading? Cognate effects in a sentence context. Psychological Science, 20(8), 923–927. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467–9280.2009.02389.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Hell, J. G., & De Groot, A. M. B. (1998). Conceptual representation in bilingual memory: Effects of concreteness and cognate status in word association. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1(03), 193–211. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728998000352Google Scholar
van Hell, J. G., & Dijkstra, T. (2002). Foreign language knowledge can influence native language performance in exclusively native contexts. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review,9(4), 780–789. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03196335Google Scholar
van Orden, G. C. (1987). A ROWS is a ROSE: Spelling, sound, and reading. Memory and Cognition, 15(3), 181–198. https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03197716CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Verhoef, K. M. W., Roelofs, A., & Chwilla, D. J. (2010). Electrophysiological evidence for endogenous control of attention in switching between languages in overt picture naming. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(8), 1832–1843. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21291Google Scholar
Voga, M., & Grainger, J. (2007). Cognate status and cross-script translation priming. Memory and Cognition, 35(5), 938–952.Google Scholar
Zhou, H., Chen, B., Yang, M., & Dunlap, S. (2010). Language nonselective access to phonological representations: Evidence from Chinese–English bilinguals. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 63(10), 2051–2066. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470211003718705Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×