Naslov
Differences in Lexical Access Efficiency in Croatian-English Bilinguals

Autori
Zovko Dinković, Irena ; Šojer, Tena

Izvornik
Studia Romanica et Anglica Zagrabiensia (0039-3339) LVII (2012); 141-158

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
bilinguals; lexical access; receptive vocabulary; Croatian; English

Sažetak
Studies to date have shown that both bilingual adults and bilingual children score lower than their monolingual peers on standardized productive and receptive vocabulary measures. Since there is no significant difference in the size of the conceptual vocabulary between these groups, such results imply a more effortful lexical access in bilingual speakers. Several models have been constructed in attempts to explain these discrepancies, focusing on spreading activation and selection mechanisms in lexical access. There is, however, no conclusive evidence supporting either one of the models, and there are no studies which test for differences in performance of simultaneous and sequential bilingual speakers. We therefore tested the efficiency of lexical access in Croatian-English simultaneous and sequential bilinguals, using a picture vocabulary test, in order to determine whether there is a significant difference in receptive vocabulary performance between these two groups and in comparison to their monolingual peers.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filologija

POVEZANOST RADA