Noise Modulates Crosslinguistic Effects on Second-Language Auditory Word Recognition
Date
2023Author
Guediche, Sara
Navarra-Barindelli, Eugenia
Martin, Clara D.
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Guediche, S., Navarra-Barindelli, E., & Martin, C.D. (2023). Noise modulates crosslinguistic effects on L2 auditory word recognition. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 66:635–647. Doi:10.1044/2022_JSLHR-22-00368.
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
Abstract
Purpose: This study investigates whether crosslinguistic effects on auditory word
recognition are modulated by the quality of the auditory signal (clear and noisy).
Method: In an online experiment, a group of Spanish–English bilingual listeners performed
an auditory lexical decision task, in their second language, English. Words
and pseudowords were either presented in the clear or were embedded in white
auditory noise. Target words were varied in the degree to which they overlapped in
their phonological form with their translation equivalents and were categorized
according to their overlap as cognates (form and meaning) or noncognates (meaning
only). In order to test for effects of crosslinguistic competition, the phonological
neighborhood density of the targets’ translations was also manipulated.
Results: The results show that crosslinguistic effects are impacted by noise;
when the translation had a high neighborhood density, performance was worse
for cognates than for noncognates, especially in noise.
Conclusions: The findings suggest that noise increases lexical competition
across languages, as it does within a language, and that the crosslinguistic
phonological overlap for cognates compared with noncognates can further
increase the pool of competitors by co-activating crosslinguistic lexical candidates.
The results are discussed within the context of the bilingual word recognition
literature and models of language and bilingual lexical processing.