Cross-language semantic parafoveal preview benefits in bilinguals.

Abstract

The aim of this project was to identify factors contributing to cross-language semantic preview benefits. In Experiment 1, Russian–English bilinguals read English sentences with Russian words presented as parafoveal previews. The gaze-contingent boundary paradigm was used to present sentences. Critical previews were cognate translations of the target word (CTAPT—START), noncognate translations (CPOK—TERM), or interlingual homograph translations (MOPE—SEA). A semantic preview benefit (i.e., shorter fixation durations for related than unrelated previews) was observed for cognate and interlingual homograph translations, but not for noncognate translations. In Experiment 2, English–French bilinguals read English sentences with French words used as parafoveal previews. Critical previews were interlingual homograph translations of the target word (PAIN—BREAD) or interlingual homograph translations with a diacritic added (PÁIN—BREAD). A robust semantic preview benefit was found only for interlingual homographs without diacritics, although both preview types produced a semantic preview benefit in the total fixation duration. Our findings suggest that semantically related previews need to have substantial orthographic overlap with words in the target language to produce cross-language semantic preview benefits in early eye fixation measures. In terms of the Bilingual Interactive Activation+ model, the preview word may need to activate the language node for the target language before its meaning is integrated with that of the target word.

Bilingual parafoveal processing: Children and adults preprocess orthographic information of the upcoming word during sentence reading in their first and second language.

“…The processing benefit of parafoveal previews that share orthographic information with their target word, compared to previews that are orthographically dissimilar to their target word, is evident in Spanish–English bilinguals reading in both Spanish and English (Altarriba et al, 2001), Russian-English bilinguals reading in English with Russian previews (Jouravlev & Jared, 2018), Korean–Chinese bilinguals reading in Chinese (Wang et al, 2014), and with German–English bilinguals reading in English (Fernandez et al, 2021). Jouravlev et al (2023) also found cross-language preview effects (i.e., shorter fixation durations on target words) for cognates and interlingual homograph translation previews with high orthographic overlap compared to low orthographic overlap in Russian–English bilinguals in L2 reading and English–French bilinguals in L1 reading.…”

“…Although some fundamental aspects of parafoveal processing in L2 reading have been studied, such as the development of the perceptual span and its preservation in older age in bilinguals’ L1 and L2 (e.g., Whitford & Titone, 2015, 2016), research focussing on specific types of information that are processed in the parafovea is comparatively sparse for L2 reading. The recent synthesis by Elgort and Veldre (2023) of L2 eye movement research using the invisible boundary paradigm reviewed 15 experiments in 13 published studies, of which nine contained orthographic preview manipulations (Altarriba et al, 2001; Cong & Chen, 2022a, 2022b; Fernandez et al, 2020, 2021, Jouravlev & Jared, 2018; Jouravlev et al, 2023; Wang et al, 2014; Xiao et al 2023). The processing benefit of parafoveal previews that share orthographic information with their target word, compared to previews that are orthographically dissimilar to their target word, is evident in Spanish–English bilinguals reading in both Spanish and English (Altarriba et al, 2001), Russian-English bilinguals reading in English with Russian previews (Jouravlev & Jared, 2018), Korean–Chinese bilinguals reading in Chinese (Wang et al, 2014), and with German–English bilinguals reading in English (Fernandez et al, 2021).…”