Work

Structural priming in bilinguals

Year: 2017

Type: article

Abstract: In this review, we examine how structural priming has been used to investigate the representation of first and second language syntactic structures in bilinguals. Most experiments suggest that structures that are identical in the first and second language have a single, shared mental representation. The results from structures that are similar but not fully identical are less clear, but they may be explained by assuming that first and second language representations are merely connected rather than fully shared. Some research has also used structural priming to investigate the representation of cognate words. We will also consider whether cross-linguistic structural priming taps into long-term implicit learning effects. Finally, we discuss recent research that has investigated how second language syntactic representations develop as learners’ proficiency increases.

Source: Bilingualism Language and Cognition

DOI: 10.1017/s1366728917000542

Authors: ROGER P. G. VAN GOMPEL, MANABU ARAI

Institutions: University of Dundee, Seijo University

Language: English

Topic: Neurobiology of Language and Bilingualism

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Economic and Social Research Council, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Awards: An Experimental Investigation of Syntactic Priming and the Lexical Boost in Language Production, Formation and Decline of Social Capital: Survey and Experimental Evidence, The cause of processing cost and the role of inhibitory control in language comprehension