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      Native-likeness in second language lexical categorization reflects individual language history and linguistic community norms

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          Abstract

          Second language learners face a dual challenge in vocabulary learning: First, they must learn new names for the 100s of common objects that they encounter every day. Second, after some time, they discover that these names do not generalize according to the same rules used in their first language. Lexical categories frequently differ between languages ( Malt et al., 1999), and successful language learning requires that bilinguals learn not just new words but new patterns for labeling objects. In the present study, Chinese learners of English with varying language histories and resident in two different language settings (Beijing, China and State College, PA, USA) named 67 photographs of common serving dishes (e.g., cups, plates, and bowls) in both Chinese and English. Participants’ response patterns were quantified in terms of similarity to the responses of functionally monolingual native speakers of Chinese and English and showed the cross-language convergence previously observed in simultaneous bilinguals ( Ameel et al., 2005). For English, bilinguals’ names for each individual stimulus were also compared to the dominant name generated by the native speakers for the object. Using two statistical models, we disentangle the effects of several highly interactive variables from bilinguals’ language histories and the naming norms of the native speaker community to predict inter-personal and inter-item variation in L2 (English) native-likeness. We find only a modest age of earliest exposure effect on L2 category native-likeness, but importantly, we find that classroom instruction in L2 negatively impacts L2 category native-likeness, even after significant immersion experience. We also identify a significant role of both L1 and L2 norms in bilinguals’ L2 picture naming responses.

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          Most cited references23

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          Language selectivity is the exception, not the rule: Arguments against a fixed locus of language selection in bilingual speech

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            The parallel distributed processing approach to semantic cognition.

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              Language history questionnaire: A web-based interface for bilingual research.

              A Web-based interface has been developed to facilitate researchers in collecting language history information online. Most researchers use their own versions of language history questionnaires for specific studies in second language acquisition. Although these versions of questionnaires all differ from one another in some respects, there is a significant amount of overlap between them. Here we identify the crucial dimensions that most investigators consider important to include in such a questionnaire. We have examined the most commonly asked questions in 41 published questionnaires, and on the basis of our analyses we propose a general L2 language history questionnaire. Subjects can enter some or all of the information on the Web, and the results are automatically generated as an RTF output file on the user's desktop.
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                Author and article information

                Contributors
                Journal
                Front Psychol
                Front Psychol
                Front. Psychol.
                Frontiers in Psychology
                Frontiers Media S.A.
                1664-1078
                27 October 2014
                2014
                : 5
                : 1203
                Affiliations
                [1] 1Department of Psychology, Center for Language Science, Pennsylvania State University, University Park PA, USA
                [2] 2Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester Rochester, NY, USA
                [3] 3Department of Psychology, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA USA
                [4] 4Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Leuven Leuven, Belgium
                Author notes

                Edited by: Vicky Chondrogianni, University of Edinburgh, UK

                Reviewed by: Anthony Shook, Northwestern University, USA; Robert Nelson, University of Alabama, USA

                *Correspondence: Benjamin D. Zinszer, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14627, USA e-mail: bzinszer@ 123456gmail.com

                This article was submitted to Language Sciences, a section of the journal Frontiers in Psychology.

                Article
                10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01203
                4209811
                25386149
                4c46278f-2fa1-4028-a228-357cc3b39b13
                Copyright © 2014 Zinszer, Malt, Ameel and Li.

                This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

                History
                : 31 May 2014
                : 05 October 2014
                Page count
                Figures: 5, Tables: 1, Equations: 0, References: 45, Pages: 16, Words: 0
                Categories
                Psychology
                Original Research Article

                Clinical Psychology & Psychiatry
                lexical categorization,lexical semantics,bilingualism,immersion,language learning

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