The effect of L2 German on grammatical gender access in L1 Polish: proficiency matters

IF 1.1 2区文学 0 LANGUAGE & LINGUISTICS

Linguistics Vanguard Pub Date : 2023-06-19 DOI:10.1515/lingvan-2022-0068

Kamil Długosz

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract Previous research has shown that bilinguals process nouns that have the same grammatical gender in their two languages faster than nouns that differ in gender between L1 and L2. This finding, referred to as the gender congruency effect, has so far only been documented in L2. Hence, the aim of the present study was to examine whether late unbalanced bilinguals would also show gender congruency effects in their L1. To that end, 44 L1 Polish/L2 German bilinguals were tested in a gender decision task in Polish, which included gender-congruent and gender-incongruent nouns. The results revealed a robust gender congruency effect in L1, which was limited to bilinguals with very high L2 proficiency. This indicates that bilinguals activate grammatical gender information in L2 when accessing gender in L1, providing that they are highly proficient in L2. More broadly, the study demonstrates that foreign language knowledge can affect native language performance in exclusively native contexts. Finally, as a first attempt to examine grammatical gender access in Polish, this study shows that feminine gender is accessed faster compared to masculine and neuter, suggesting that the ending -a is the most reliable gender cue in Polish.

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二语德语对一语波兰语语法性别访问的影响：熟练程度问题

摘要先前的研究表明，双语者处理两种语言中语法性别相同的名词的速度要快于处理L1和L2中性别不同的名词。这一发现被称为性别一致性效应，迄今为止只在L2中有记载。因此，本研究的目的是检验晚期不平衡双语者是否也会在L1中表现出性别一致性效应。为此，对44名一级波兰语/二级德语双语者进行了波兰语性别决策任务测试，其中包括性别一致和性别不一致的名词。研究结果显示，母语中存在强烈的性别一致性效应，这仅限于二语水平非常高的双语者。这表明，双语者在获取一级语言中的性别信息时，激活了二级语言中语法性别信息，前提是他们高度精通二级语言。更广泛地说，这项研究表明，外语知识可以影响纯母语环境下的母语表现。最后，作为对波兰语语法性别获取的首次尝试，本研究表明，与阳性和中性相比，阴性性别的获取速度更快，这表明结尾-a是波兰语中最可靠的性别线索。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Linguistics Vanguard Multiple-

CiteScore

2.00

自引率

18.20%

发文量

105

期刊介绍： Linguistics Vanguard is a new channel for high quality articles and innovative approaches in all major fields of linguistics. This multimodal journal is published solely online and provides an accessible platform supporting both traditional and new kinds of publications. Linguistics Vanguard seeks to publish concise and up-to-date reports on the state of the art in linguistics as well as cutting-edge research papers. With its topical breadth of coverage and anticipated quick rate of production, it is one of the leading platforms for scientific exchange in linguistics. Its broad theoretical range, international scope, and diversity of article formats engage students and scholars alike. All topics within linguistics are welcome. The journal especially encourages submissions taking advantage of its new multimodal platform designed to integrate interactive content, including audio and video, images, maps, software code, raw data, and any other media that enhances the traditional written word. The novel platform and concise article format allows for rapid turnaround of submissions. Full peer review assures quality and enables authors to receive appropriate credit for their work. The journal publishes general submissions as well as special collections. Ideas for special collections may be submitted to the editors for consideration.