L1–L2 similarity and L2 word frequency effects in Chinese

Abstract

Competing accounts have been proposed to explain why word frequency effects are often larger in second-language (L2) than in first-language (L1) reading. The lexical entrenchment hypothesis attributes this pattern to weaker lexical representations in L2 due to reduced exposure, whereas the language competition hypothesis predicts that cross-language interference from L1 modulates L2 lexical processing. To test these accounts, we conducted an eye-tracking study comparing native Chinese readers and L2 Chinese readers from alphabetic and Japanese L1 backgrounds. L2 readers exhibited larger word frequency effects than native readers. Critically, the magnitude of L2 word frequency effect did not differ between L1 backgrounds. These findings suggest that L2 word frequency effects are more consistent with differences in lexical entrenchment than with cross-language competition.