Cross-linguistic priming effects during the comprehension of the passive voice: two primes are enough
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2023.e94718Keywords:
Brazilian-Portuguese, Structural priming, Bilingual language processing, Comprehension, Residual activationAbstract
The present study investigated cross-linguistic structural priming effects from L1 to L2 during the comprehension of the passive voice in a group of 35 Brazilian Portuguese-English (BP-EN) late bilinguals. A 4 x 2 experimental design was implemented that included a four levels within-subjects Condition variable and a between-subjects Proficiency variable (Intermediate vs. Advanced). Results show that, regardless of proficiency, participants read target sentences faster in both experimental conditions when compared to the control conditions. Noticeably, cross-linguistic structural priming effects were observed even in the absence of translation equivalents. That is, both abstract and lexically mediated structural cross-linguistic effects were observed. These findings indicate that late bilinguals at intermediate and advanced levels of proficiency have a shared syntactic system between their L1 and L2.
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