Dual activation of word stress from orthography

Abstract

Studies in bilingualism have shown that words activate form-similar neighbors in both first (L1) and second (L2) languages. Accordingly, we hypothesized that the degree of form similarity between L1–L2 word pairs causes a proportional amount of prosodic transfer in L2 speech production. Thus, cognate pairs L1–L2 which bear lexical stress in the same syllable position should be facilitated in L2 production, while cognates with stress on mismatching positions L1–L2 should be inhibited. The results of a speeded word naming task with English L2 speakers showed facilitation in production of cognate words overall. Concerning word stress in L1–L2, an opposite effect was found between 2- and 3-syllable cognate words, while no effect was found for non-cognates. The effects found for cognate words correlate with form similarity and L2 lexical frequency values, corroborating the hypotheses that lexical activation in L2 is non-selective and that the bilingual lexicon is built in association between L1 and L2 at multiple levels of linguistic representation.