engleski

Organisation of Mental Lexicon in Croatian Monolinguals and Croatian-English Dominant Bilinguals

This paper deals with the organisation of the mental lexica of monolingual and bilingual speakers and the differences between them. The word association method is used to investigate the organisation of the mental lexicon between two groups of participants: a group of monolingual speakers of Croatian and a group of Croatian-English dominant bilinguals. The English stimulus used in the word association task is based on the Kent Rosanoff list which is adapted to provide the stimulus presented in the Croatian language. The associative links and some specific features of these links in the Croatian and English languages are studied. The data obtained from the two groups of participants are compared. Specific focus is placed on the associations provided in the Croatian language by the monolingual and bilingual participants. The influence of one language on the other in the bilingual speakers’ answers is focused on in order to establish the existence and extent of the mother tongue ←→ second language interference in the association providing process carried out by the bilingual participants.

mental lexicon; organisation; Croatian monolinguals; Croatian-English dominant bilinguals; word association

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