熟练中－英双语者三语词汇的语义通达

Semantic Access of Proficient Chinese-English Bilinguals to a Third Language

通过两个实验运用跨语言重复启动的范式考察熟练中－英双语者对不熟练的第三语言词汇的语义通达方式。实验1以三语为日语的熟练中－英双语者为被试，实验2以三语为法语的熟练中－英双语者为被试，两个实验都发现了显著的跨语言重复启动效应。实验结果表明，熟练双语者尽管已经形成了直接通达二语词汇概念意义的语义通达方式，但其并没有将此方式迁移到对三语词汇概念意义的通达，他们仍然需要以一语词为中介从而间接通达三语词汇的概念意义。综合先前系列研究的结果初步表明，第二语言的熟练水平是影响晚期双语者语义通达方式的主要因素，晚期双语者记忆表征中的语义通达方式在本质上是一种经验性变化。

For several years， bilingual memory representation has received considerable attention from many researchers. However， they have mostly focused on a representation model for the first and second languages of bilinguals. The semantic access of a third language in proficient bilinguals remains to be examined. In order to clarify this issue， two experiments based on the cross-language repetition priming paradigm were designed to explore the semantic access of a third language in proficient Chinese-English bilinguals.The present study aims to address the abovementioned issue using the task of cross-language repetition priming. The participants in Experiment 1 were proficient Chinese-English bilinguals who were postgraduates in English， with Japanese as their third language. On the other hand， the participants in Experiment 2 were proficient Chinese-English bilinguals with French as their third language. The two experiments were both conducted on computers and edited using the E-Prime software. Each experiment had two phases: a study phase and test phase. In the study phase， the participants were instructed to complete the animacy decision tasks with the third language (Japanese or French)， and in the test phase， with Chinese. The response times were automatically recorded by the computers and the SPSS 10.0 software was used to analyze the data.In both Experiments 1 and 2， participants’ response times to the words they had studied were significantly lower than those to the words they had not studied. Reliable cross-language repetition priming effects were obtained in both the experiments. With regard to the accuracy rates， the results of the two experiments were consistent with those of the response times.Overall， the results of the two experiments indicated that late proficient bilinguals have to access the conceptual representation of the third language through the first language. All the results of the present experimental reports indicate that proficiency is an important factor influencing the semantic access of bilinguals， and that the semantic access of a second language in the memory representation of late bilinguals is basically experiential.