TY - JOUR
T1 - Lexical alignment in second language communication
T2 - evidence from a picture-naming task
AU - Zhang, Di
AU - Nicol, Janet
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Dr. Liang Li for his help with experiment programming and Dr. Andrew Barss for valuable feedback on an earlier draft. We are also grateful for the helpful reviewer comments on previous versions of this paper.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Language alignment occurs when interlocutors mimic each other’s language. Language alignment can happen as a result of priming, but may also be mediated by speakers’ beliefs about their interlocutor, including how language-proficient they believe the interlocutor to be. However, it is unknown whether bilingual speakers also show such effects. In this study, the participant and interlocutor took turns labelling pictured objects. These had alternative labels—one preferred, one dispreferred–with the latter used by the interlocutor. Participants were native Mandarin speakers who rated themselves as higher- or lower-intermediate L2 English learners. They were told their interlocutor was either a native English speaker, or another L2 English-learner. In a series of three experiments, the results showed that participants aligned with the interlocutor by using the dispreferred label. Rates of alignment varied, depending on the perceived proficiency of the interlocutor, and to a lesser extent, the L2 speaker’ self-rated proficiency.
AB - Language alignment occurs when interlocutors mimic each other’s language. Language alignment can happen as a result of priming, but may also be mediated by speakers’ beliefs about their interlocutor, including how language-proficient they believe the interlocutor to be. However, it is unknown whether bilingual speakers also show such effects. In this study, the participant and interlocutor took turns labelling pictured objects. These had alternative labels—one preferred, one dispreferred–with the latter used by the interlocutor. Participants were native Mandarin speakers who rated themselves as higher- or lower-intermediate L2 English learners. They were told their interlocutor was either a native English speaker, or another L2 English-learner. In a series of three experiments, the results showed that participants aligned with the interlocutor by using the dispreferred label. Rates of alignment varied, depending on the perceived proficiency of the interlocutor, and to a lesser extent, the L2 speaker’ self-rated proficiency.
KW - L2 learners
KW - L2 lexical alignment
KW - L2 proficiency
KW - Unmediated alignment
KW - mediated alignment
KW - second language production
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U2 - 10.1080/23273798.2021.2019285
DO - 10.1080/23273798.2021.2019285
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85121873165
VL - 37
SP - 732
EP - 749
JO - Language, Cognition and Neuroscience
JF - Language, Cognition and Neuroscience
SN - 2327-3798
IS - 6
ER -