This study examines the role of the language cue on language selection in the Bilingual Language Production (BLP) Model, (Hermans, 2000; Poulisse & Bongaerts, 1994) and its relationship to the Language Mode (LM) model, (Grosjean, 1998). In order to examine the role of phonology in second language (L2) production, two groups of native English speakers, one less proficient and one more proficient in Spanish, were compared in a picture naming task and a translation task. In the first task, picture naming, participants named pictures in both English and Spanish while two phonological cues were presented auditorily. The cues were top-down (i.e. environmentally-driven) or bottom-up (language-driven). In the second task, participants translated from English to Spanish and from Spanish to English, also while environmental and language-driven auditory cues were presented. The environment-driven cue was designed to activate a language-specific environment (e.g. English or Spanish music played in the background. The bottom-up language-driven distractor was designed to activate the internal representation of a target item by using the item's onset and vowel (e.g. [wu] for women or [mu] for mujer),. Distractors were either related to the target item by language (e.g. hearing the Spanish sound [mu] when producing mujer), unrelated by language (e.g. hear the Spanish sound [mu] when producing woman), or neutral (e.g. hearing [du], an unrelated sound in Arabic when producing woman). The results showed that all learners, regardless of proficiency, were affected to some extent by both the internal and external phonological cues. However, the cue effects were context dependent, e.g. dependent on the language of production and proficiency. Specifically, facilitory effects were found when external and internal cues matched for language, but when cues were not matched there were observed inhibitory effects. Moreover, all participants were affected by the neutral distractor for both reaction time and accuracy, such that reaction times were increased and accuracy was reduced. I consider the implications of these results per the specific predictions of the BLP and LM, as well as their theoretical implications for future models of bilingual production. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2012. / June 6, 2012. / Bilingualism, Phonology, Proficiency, Psycholinguistics, Spanish, Top-down / Includes bibliographical references. / Gretchen Sunderman, Professor Directing Dissertation; Michael Kaschak, University Representative; Carolina González, Committee Member; Michael Leeser, Committee Member.
Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183099 |
Contributors | Salkauski, Wallace J. (authoraut), Sunderman, Gretchen (professor directing dissertation), Kaschak, Michael (university representative), González, Carolina (committee member), Leeser, Michael (committee member), Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
Source Sets | Florida State University |
Language | English, English |
Detected Language | English |
Type | Text, text |
Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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