Lexical access by L1 and L2 mono- and bidialectal listeners

Abstract

This paper investigates lexical access in English in 36 listeners from four different participant groups. The groups vary in English language background (L1 vs. L2 [native Russian]), and in terms of English dialect exposure (D1 [monodialectal Australian] vs. D2 [bidialectal American / Australian]), providing the four groups: L1D1, L1D2, L2D1, and L2D2. We analyze accuracy in a lexical decision task in terms of the lexical item’s dialect origin (e.g. American faucet vs. Australian tap), and the speaker’s accent (Australian vs. American). Results reveal that L1 lexical decision is significantly more accurate on items with congruent word dialect and speaker accent (e.g. faucet in an American rather than Australian accent) than on incongruent ones. However, (in)congruency has no significant effect on accuracy during L2 lexical decision. Show more