Phonological representation and processing in bilingual learners: investigating cross- language phonological activation and accuracy of phonological representation

Abstract

Phonological activation and processing constitute a pivotal area of inquiry within second language (L2) research. The intersection and distinctiveness of phonological representation across languages leads to cross-linguistic phonological activation and challenges in L2 phonological processing. A large volume of previous evidence suggests that cross-linguistic phonological activation occurs through homophone and cognate priming in processing of isolated words. However, investigations into sentence-level processing remain sparse. Moreover, the significance of cross-linguistic phonological priming and its consistency across various languages, task modalities, and priming directions have yet to be fully elucidated. Concerning the challenges faced by L2 learners in phonological processing, previous research suggests that the difficulties may lie in an inaccurate, imprecise phonemic representation and perception in both auditory and visual word recognition. The primary objectives of this dissertation are: (1) to investigate cross-linguistic phonological activation between Chinese and English in both isolated word and sentence processing contexts (Study 1); (2) to assess the significance and consistency of phonological activation in bilinguals in a meta-analytic review (Study 2); (3) to examine whether and how Chinese ESL learners show fuzzy phonological representation in both auditory and visual word recognition tasks and the role of proficiency in moderating the accuracy (Study 3). The findings from these studies advance our understanding of the organization in bilingual lexicon and interaction across languages, with a particular focus on phonological representation and processing across Chinese and English, and the nuances specific to learning English L2.