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Evidence for long-term cross-language repetition priming in low fluency Chinese–English bilinguals*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2009

LI LI ,
LEI MO ,
RUIMING WANG ,
XUEYING LUO  and
ZHE CHEN
LI LI
Affiliation:
South China Normal University, Guangzhou
LEI MO*
Affiliation:
South China Normal University, Guangzhou
RUIMING WANG
Affiliation:
South China Normal University, Guangzhou
XUEYING LUO
Affiliation:
South China Normal University, Guangzhou
ZHE CHEN
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis
*
Address for correspondence: Lei Mo, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China, 510631[email protected]
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Abstract

Previous studies have found that proficiency in a second language affects how the meanings of words are accessed. Support for this hypothesis is based on data from explicit memory tasks with bilingual participants who know two languages that are relatively similar phonologically and orthographically (e.g., Dutch–English, French–English). The present study tested this hypothesis with Chinese–English bilinguals using an implicit memory task – the cross-language repetition priming paradigm. Consistent with the result of Zeelenberg, R. and Pecher, D. (2003), we obtained reliable effects of long-term cross-language repetition priming using a conceptual implicit memory task. Overall, the four experiments support the Revised Hierarchical Model as they demonstrate that low fluency bilinguals can only access the conceptual representation of the second language via the lexical representation of the first language.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 12 , Issue 1 , January 2009 , pp. 13 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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Footnotes

*

This research was supported by Research Foundation of Essential Tasks in Philosophy and Social Science by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (Grant 05JZD00034), by Guangdong Natural Science Foundation on Task for Research Group (Grant 06200524), and by Research Foundation of Humanities & Social Sciences by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (Grant 07JCXLX002).

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