Lexical and syntactic target language interactions in translation

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Science
• Translation Studies

Background:

• Understanding the cognitive processes underlying translation is crucial for psycholinguistics.
• Previous research has explored the interplay of linguistic elements during language processing, but their interaction during translation requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the interaction between syntactic and lexical properties of the target language (TL) during consecutive translation.
• To determine if cognate status and syntactic congruency influence this interaction.

Main Methods:

• Participants performed two tasks: reading sentences for translation into the TL (reading for translation) and reading sentences for repetition in the source language (SL).
• The study manipulated the cognate status of words and the syntactic structure congruency between SL and TL sentences.
• Eye-tracking or reaction time measures were likely used to assess processing, though not explicitly stated in the abstract.

Main Results:

• Coactivation of syntactic and lexical properties of the TL was observed in the middle and final sentence regions.
• An interaction between cognate status and syntactic congruency was found specifically in the reading for translation task at the end of the sentence.
• These results indicate that both syntactic and lexical information are processed concurrently and interactively during translation.

Conclusions:

• The cognitive processes involved in translation show an interactive time course for syntactic and lexical activation.
• Translation engages distinct cognitive mechanisms compared to simple repetition, particularly concerning the integration of linguistic features.
• This study contributes to understanding the complex interplay of language processing components during the translation act.