The Effect of Different Alphabets in Lexical Processing: The Case of Russian

• Other Authors: Usmanova, Emiliya R. (Emiliya Renatovna) (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Subjects: Linguistics; Psychology
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_2017SP_Usmanova_fsu_0071N_13901

In the field of psycholinguistics, many studies have provided evidence for non-selectivity of various sub-lexical and lexical units both in same-alphabet bilingualism and in language combinations with different scripts (Dijkstra, Grainger & Van Heuven,1998). Majority of previous studies tested the predictions of the word recognition models, BIA and BIA+, mostly based on same script language combinations (Schwarts, Kroll & Diaz, 2007; Comesaña et.al.. 2012) . The goal of this paper is to test the prediction of the BIA+ model and investigate the architecture of mental lexicon in different script bilinguals, particularly with native speakers of English - late language learners of Russian. The nature of non-selective interaction of codes in English-Russian combination has not been studied yet, and we do not know if the co-activation of features takes place only due to phonological similarity or complex orthographic and phonological overlap between two alphabets. Following the example of many studies, cognate pairs were chosen as the stimuli for the proposed masked priming experiment. The design of this empirical study replicates to a certain degree Sunderman and Priya (2012), and Voga and Grainger (2007). There are six experimental conditions based on phoneme and grapheme overlap. The idea of the planned experiment is to measure reaction times and accuracy rates in visual and auditory trials to investigate the order of activation. It is predicted that facilitation effect will take place with cognates sharing similarity in phonology, orthography, and meaning, while in cognate pairs with false overlap and in distractor pairs the participants will demonstrate the most difficulty and delay in their responses due to simultaneous activation of features. === A Thesis submitted to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. === Spring Semester 2017. === April 7, 2017. === BIA+, bilingualism, Cognates, different scripts, lexical processing, Russian === Includes bibliographical references. === Gretchen L. Sunderman, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Lisa R. Wakamiya, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Robert Romanchuk, Committee Member.