Lexicalization of new English words in Italian-English bilinguals

First-language research suggests that new words, after initial episodic-memory encoding, are consolidated and hence become lexically integrated. We asked here if lexical consolidation, about word forms and meanings, occurs in a second language. Italian-English sequential bilinguals learned novel English-like words (e.g., apricon, taught to mean “stapler”). fMRI analyses failed to reveal a predicted shift, after consolidation time, from hippocampal to temporal neocortical activity. In a pause-detection task, responses to existing phonological competitors of learned words (e.g., apricot for apricon) were slowed down if the words had been learned two days earlier (i.e., after consolidation time) but not if they had been learned the same day. In a lexical-decision task, new words primed responses to
semantically-related existing words (e.g., apricon-paper) whether the words were learned that day or two days earlier. Consolidation appears to support integration of words into the bilingual lexicon, possibly more rapidly for meanings than for forms.

母语研究表明，新词在经过初始情景记忆编码后会得到巩固，进而在词汇层面实现整合。本研究旨在探究第二语言中是否也存在针对词形与语义的词汇巩固过程。研究对象为意大利语-英语顺序双语者，他们学习了类英语新词（例如apricon，被教授的含义为“订书机”）。功能磁共振成像（fMRI）分析并未发现预期的巩固期后脑活动从海马体向颞叶新皮层的转移现象。在停顿检测任务中，若所学新词是在两天前（即巩固期后）习得的，那么被试对该词现有语音相近词（例如对应apricon的apricot）的反应会变慢；但若新词是在当日习得的，则无此现象。在词汇判断任务中，无论新词是当日还是两天前习得的，该新词均会对语义相关的现有词（例如apricon与paper）产生启动效应。研究结果显示，词汇巩固过程可助力新词整合至双语词汇系统中，且语义层面的整合速度可能快于词形层面。