Masked Morphological Priming and Sensitivity to the Statistical Structure of Form-to-Meaning Mapping in L2

Area of Science:

• Psycholinguistics
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Second Language Acquisition

Background:

• Visual word identification in a native language involves early morphological analysis and sensitivity to Orthography-to-Semantic Consistency (OSC).
• The application of these mechanisms in second language (L2) processing remains less understood.
• Proficiency levels in L2 speakers can significantly influence cognitive processes related to word recognition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how morphological analysis and OSC impact visual word identification in L2 English speakers.
• To determine the role of L2 proficiency in modulating priming effects related to morphology and orthography.
• To explore the relationship between OSC, L2 proficiency, and the consolidation of the L2 lexicon.

Main Methods:

• A masked priming task was employed with L1 Italian-L2 English speakers.
• Stimuli included morphologically transparent, opaque, and purely orthographic prime-target pairs.
• Participants' L2 lexical, morphological, phonological, spelling, and semantic proficiency were comprehensively assessed.

Main Results:

• L2 proficiency critically influenced priming effects: genuine morphological facilitation increased with proficiency.
• Orthographic priming effects diminished as L2 competence grew.
• OSC modulated priming effects and interacted with proficiency, offering insights into derivational morphology transparency.

Conclusions:

• The findings illustrate the developmental trajectory of the L2 lexicon.
• Masked priming and sensitivity to OSC serve as key indicators of L2 lexical consolidation.
• Cognitive mechanisms for word identification adapt with increasing L2 proficiency.