Effects of Cognate Status on Word Comprehension in Second Language Learners: An ERP Investigation

Abstract

ERPs were used to explore the different patterns of processing of cognate and noncognate words in the first (L1) and second (L2) language of a population of second language learners. L1 English students of French were presented with blocked lists of L1 and L2 words, and ERPs to cognates and noncognates were compared within each language block. For both languages, cognates had smaller amplitudes in the N400 component when compared with noncognates. L1 items that were cognates showed early differences in amplitude in the N400 epoch when compared with noncognates. L2 items showed later differences between cognates and noncognates than L1 items. The results are discussed in terms of how cognate status affects word recognition in second language learners.

The Use of Cognate Words and Interlingual Homographs to Investigate the Cross-Linguistics in Second Language Processing in Iran

“…It is consistent with prior work demonstrating that cognate facilitation can be eliminated or reversed when there is not complete lexical overlap (Dijkstra, Grainger, & van Heuven, 1999;Schwartz, Kroll, & Diaz, 2007;Tokowicz & Kroll, 2007). As expected, we found a significant cognate effect in a single-word presentation lexical decision task in the nonnative language, showing that cognate words were processed faster and more accurately than false cognate words in line with previous literature (Dijkstra, Miwa, Brummelhuis, Sappelli, & Baayen, 2010;Dunabeitia, Perea, & Carreiras, 2010;Midgley, Holcomb, & Grainger, 2011;Peeters, Dijkstra, & Grainger, 2013;Kassaian & Esmae'li, 2011;Zare & Mobarakeh, 2013; among others).…”

“…The fact that nonnative cognate words are recognized and generated faster and more precisely than nonnative non-cognate words (Bultena, Dijkstra, & van Hell, 2014;Midgley, Holcomb, & Grainger, 2011;Peeters, Dijkstra, & Grainger, 2013).…”

NIM: A Web-based Swiss army knife to select stimuli for psycholinguistic studies

“…In studies of bilingualism, a relevant line of research focuses on cognate words, which are translation equivalents with a similar form (e.g., Midgley, Holcomb, & Grainger, 2011;Sánchez-Casas, Davis, & García-Albea, 1992;Sánchez-Casas & García-Albea, 2005). During the last decade, a growing number of studies have used the orthographic similarity metric (OS) developed by Van Orden (1987) as a continuous index of the cognate status of words (e.g., Dimitropoulou, Duñabeitia, & Carreiras, 2011;Duyck, Van Assche, Drieghe, & Hartsuiker, 2007;Schwartz, Kroll, & Diaz, 2007;Van Assche, Duyck, Hartsuiker, & Diependaele, 2009).…”

Another cup of TEE? The processing of second language near-cognates in first language reading

“…Cognates are words that share form and meaning between two languages, such as the word rose in French and English. Bilinguals process cognates faster, more accurately and with less difficulty than non-cognates in almost all language tasks we know of, both in language production (Costa, Santesteban, & Caño, 2005;Hoshino & Kroll, 2008;Pureza, Soares, & Comesaña, 2016;Strijkers, Costa, & Thierry, 2010) and in comprehension (Bultena, Dijkstra, & van Hell, 2013;Lemhöfer & Dijkstra, 2004;Lemhöfer, Dijkstra, et al, 2008;Midgley, Holcomb, & Grainger, 2011). The fact that even in a monolingual word processing task, words that also exist in the currently inactive language are processed differently from words that do not, has been taken as evidence for the so-called nonselective account of bilingual language processing, that is, the view that one language processing system does not normally function completely independently of the other.…”