Feldman, L. B.
Haskins Labs
We use patterns of priming for regularly inflected and form similar prime-target pairs to probe morphological processing in English as a first and as a second language. We contrast results from L1 speakers of Dutch, Serbian and Chinese as they perform a cross modal lexical decision task. Conditions allow a strict test of the claim that, because they lack the grammar (procedural knowledge) to analyze morphologically complex word forms, L2 users rely on lexical (declarative) knowledge to recognize and produce morphologically complex words. Further, the inclusion of three L1s with different morphological and phonological structures provides the opportunity to detect different patterns of interaction between L1 and L2. Thus, at comparable levels of L2 proficiency, we ask whether command of inflectional morphology as revealed by magnitudes of morphological facilitation in L2 differ as a function of L1. Consistent with the claim that particular dimensions of similarity between various L1 and L2 (poverty of morphological complexity in Chinese compared to Dutch or Serbian) can affect processing in L2, cross modal findings show variation in the magnitude of facilitation across L1 speakers of Chinese and Serbian when proficiency is controlled. Also novel is a finding that Dutch L1-English L2 speakers show more morphological facilitation relative to a form control when English primes are pronounced in an American than in a Dutch accent; our generally less proficient Chinese participants did not show this pattern. Similarities and differences between patterns of morphological facilitation in L1 and L2 are discussed.