Conference Paper

Form or structure? Morphological processing in second-language English speakers: Evidence from long-lag lexical decision

Abstract

Whether second-language speakers process morphological complexity using native-like strategies has yet to be conclusively established. While some research supports native-like strategies, other evidence suggests a shallower approach with greater reliance on surface similarity. This paper employs a visual lexical decision task with long-lag priming using tri-morphemic stimuli in three conditions, form (fluently-influential), semantic (exceptional-remarkable) and morphological (natural-unnatural), with native English subjects and proficient second-language English speakers (native language Bengali). Both groups show robust morphological priming and, while L2 speakers display a form priming effect, this is significantly reduced compared to morphological priming. The results indicate possible differences in the use of sources of information in first- and second-language processing but show that morphological structure does play a role in the latter. 

Attached files

Authors

Kotzor, Sandra
Schuster, Swetlana
Wynne, Hilary S.Z.
Lahiri, Aditi

Oxford Brookes departments

School of Education

Dates

Year of publication: 2020
Date of RADAR deposit: 2021-06-07

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

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Related resources

This RADAR resource is Part of Sanchez-Stockhammer, Christina; Günther, Franziska; Schmid, Hans-Jörg (eds.) (2020): Language in mind and brain. Multimedial proceedings of the workshop held at LMU Munich, December 10–11, 2018.