LSLT: Micheline Wilson (SLA)

Fuzzy L1 Lexical Representations After L2 Immersion:  Exploring the InterNetwork of the Ontogenesis Model

Abstract: When the Ontogenesis Model (OM) of lexical representation was introduced by Bordag, Gor and Opitz (2021), the focus was mainly on L2 lexical representations. However, the OM includes what the authors call the InterNetwork, which consists of the connections between the languages of a multilingual. This paper is a first attempt at exploring this InterNetwork. It also draws on the Fuzzy Lexical Representation hypothesis proposed by Gor, Cook, Bordag, Chrabaszcz and Opitz (2021). Specifically, it poses the questions: “Does intense exposure to an L2 lead to fuzzy semantic representations in the L1?” and “Does length of residence modulate outcomes of the self-paced reading and semantic judgment measures?”. The stimuli used in the tasks are German-English interlingual homographs or near homographs in L1 semantically congruent or incongruent sentence contexts. The participants of the study are L1 German or Swiss German speakers with different lengths of residence in the US. One group will include participants who are doing a study abroad or have spent up to a year in the US as international students. A second participant group will consist of L1 German speakers with a LoR of several years, matched as closely as possible to the other group in age. A final group of German speakers living in an L1 environment will serve as a control group. The prediction is that L1 German speakers with intense L2 exposure will show different reading times and semantic judgment patterns for the interlingual homographs from the control group, with LoR modulating the magnitude of the effect.