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Bangor University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Bilingual Semantics: Intra- and inter-sense mapping in the case of two languages Evans, Gwennant Mai Award date: 2021 Awarding institution: Bangor University Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 05. Oct. 2021 Bilingual Semantics: Intra- and inter-sense mapping in the case of two languages Semanteg Ddwyieithog: Mapio mewn- a rhyng-synnwyr mewn achos o ddwy iaith Gwennant Mai Evans Thesis submitted to the School of Psychology, Bangor University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Traethawd ymchwil a gyflwynwyd i'r Ysgol Seicoleg, Prifysgol Bangor i gyflawni'r gofynion ar gyfer gradd Doethur mewn Athroniaeth yn rhannol September 2020 / Medi 2020 1 2 I hereby declare that this thesis is the results of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. All other sources are acknowledged by bibliographic references. This work has not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrently submitted in candidature for any degree unless, as agreed by the University, for approved dual awards. Yr wyf drwy hyn yn datgan mai canlyniad fy ymchwil fy hun yw’r thesis hwn, ac eithrio lle nodir yn wahanol. Caiff ffynonellau eraill eu cydnabod gan droednodiadau yn rhoi cyfeiriadau eglur. Nid yw sylwedd y gwaith hwn wedi cael ei dderbyn o’r blaen ar gyfer unrhyw radd, ac nid yw’n cael ei gyflwyno ar yr un pryd mewn ymgeisiaeth am unrhyw radd oni bai ei fod, fel y cytunwyd gan y Brifysgol, am gymwysterau deuol cymeradwy. 3 Acknowledgments Undertaking this PhD has been one of the best experiences of my life and I am indebted to many. Firstly, I would like to thank my supervisor Dr Manon Jones who has truly been wonderful. I feel so fortunate to have been given this opportunity. Your continued support has made my experience unforgettable and has enabled me to present a thesis that I am truly proud of. I would also like to say a big thank you to my second supervisor Dr Awel Vaughan-Evans who has supported me not only with the PhD but with all my academic endeavors. You encouraged me to always strive for the highest standard which has made me a much more confident and competent person. It would not have been possible to complete this thesis without the support of the BULET ARIAN lab. Therefore, I would like to thank Prof. Guillaume Thierry and all the members who have come and gone over the years for their valuable support and feedback in designing and conducting my experiments. I have made some amazing friends in the lab, Ciara, Jen and Yang, thank you for hours of fun, for listening to my many complaints, and for all the hours spent helping me cap up. To my family who have supported me throughout the PhD - even though they have no idea what I study - thank you for the support and for completing countless norming studies without question. Finally, a big thank you to Danial for suffering four years of complaints and for cheering me up even on the worst of days. Thank you for always believing that I could do this and encouraged me to keep going despite all challenges. 4 Cydnabyddiaethau Mae ymgymryd â'r PhD hwn wedi bod yn un o brofiadau gorau fy mywyd ac mae fy nyled yn fawr i sawl un. Yn gyntaf, hoffwn ddiolch i'm goruchwyliwr Dr Manon Jones sydd wedi bod yn wirioneddol wych. Dw i'n teimlo mor ffodus fy mod i wedi derbyn y cyfle yma. Mae’r gefnogaeth barhaus wedi gwneud fy mhrofiad yn un bythgofiadwy ac wedi fy ngalluogi i gyflwyno traethawd yr wyf wirioneddol yn falch ohono. Hoffwn hefyd diolch o waelod calon i'm hail oruchwyliwr Dr Awel Vaughan- Evans sydd wedi fy nghefnogi nid yn unig gyda’r PhD ond â’n holl waith academaidd. Fe wnest fy annog i ymdrechu am y safon uchaf pob amser sydd wedi fy ngwneud yn berson llawer mwy hyderus a chymwys. Ni fyddai wedi bod yn bosibl cwblhau'r traethawd ymchwil hwn heb gefnogaeth y labordy BULET ARIAN. Felly, hoffwn ddiolch yn fawr i Prof. Guillaume Thierry a'r holl aelodau sydd wedi mynd a dod dros y blynyddoedd am eu cydweithrediad a'u hadborth wrth ddylunio a chynnal fy arbrofion. Rwyf wedi gwneud ffrindiau anhygoel yn y lab, Ciara, Jen a Yang, diolch i chi am oriau o hwyl, am ddidda fy nghwynion, ac am yr holl oriau a dreuliwyd yn fy helpu i gapio i fyny. I fy nheulu sydd wedi fy nghefnogi trwy gydol y PhD - er nad oes ganddyn nhw syniad beth rydw i'n ei astudio - diolch am y cefnogaeth ac am gwblhau cant a mil o astudiaethau normio heb gwestiynu (llawer). Yn olaf, diolch o galon i Danial am ddioddef pedair blynedd o gwynoion, ac am chodi fy nghalon hyd yn oed ar y dyddiau gwaethaf. Diolch am dy ffydd yn fy ngallu i wnued hyn ac fy annog i ddal ati er gwaetha pob her. 5 6 Summary Despite large strides in our understanding of bilingual language processing at the lexical and syntactic level, including activation in L1/L2 and co-activation of languages (RHM, Kroll and Stewart, 1994; BIA - Dijkstra & Van Heuven & Grainger, 1998; BIA+, Dijkstra & Van Heuven, 2002), relatively little is known about the structure and activation of bilingual semantics. Current models provide at best a sketchy account of how the two languages compare and potentially interact at the level of meaning (The Sense Model, Finkbeiner et al, 2004; The distributed Feature Model, de Groot, 1992), and it is imperative that more empirical work is done to ascertain a more detailed picture of bilingual semantics (Multilink, Dijkstra et al, 2018). The empirical work presented in this thesis therefore aims to examine whether stronger conceptual links in the L1 afford less processing effort to achieve intra-sense conceptual mapping than in L2 (Part 1), and whether the bilingual inter-sense mapping includes co-activations of meaning (Part 2). Crucially, we use sentence processing throughout in a bid to provide an account of bilingual semantics beyond the lexical level. Part 1 includes three experiments, in which we examine bilingual intra-sense mapping using two manipulations. First, we compare bilinguals’ sensitivity to sentence meaning at the level of sense violation, using sensible and anomalous sentences. We find greater sensitivity to anomaly in the L1 at the level of online semantic processing, and evidence of delayed semantic processing in the L2. Second, we examine access to meaning in the more subtle case of literal vs. figurative language processing. We find evidence of direct access to metaphor in both the L1 and L2. Interestingly, however, our findings and interpretation centre on the suggestion that ease of access to a figurative 7 meaning is driven not by L1 status, but rather the statistical probability of encountering a metaphor in Welsh rather than English. Our results suggest that conceptual access and sentence processing is more efficient in the L1 than in the L2, but that the frequency with which certain stylistics are encountered in a given language may also influence literal vs. figurative language processing. Part 2 examined whether the non-operational language is implicitly co-activated on a semantic level, even when the meaning is idiosyncratic to one language, suggestive of interactivity in bilinguals’ semantic interpretations between the two languages. To this end, we examined whether online semantic access to L1-specific representations (Welsh idiomatic expressions) is possible when presented in the idiom-incongruent language (English). We found that the Welsh specific meaning of these idioms was available at this level of processing, suggestive of co-activation of semantic representations. Taken together, our findings suggest that although semantic processing is overall less effortful in the L1, deriving meaning in the L2 is also highly efficient. In a similar manner to the L1, the L2 has direct access to figurative language and benefits from the facilitation of experience. In addition, the L2 may directly access L1-specific concepts, implicating a highly interactive semantic system in proficient bilinguals. 8 9 Crynodeb Er gwaethaf camau breision yn ein dealltwriaeth o brosesu iaith ddwyieithog ar y lefel eiriadurol a chystrawennol, gan gynnwys actifadu yn L1 / L2 a chyd-actifiant ieithoedd (RHM, Kroll a Stewart, 1994; BIA - Dijkstra & Van Heuven & Grainger, 1998; BIA + , Dijkstra & Van Heuven, 2002), ychydig iawn a wyddwn am strwythur ac actifiant semanteg mewn unigolion dwyieithog Mae modelau cyfredol yn darparu cyfrif bras ar y gorau o sut mae'r ddwy iaith yn cymharu, ac o bosibl yn rhyngweithio, ar lefel ystyr (The Sense Model, Finkbeiner et al, 2004; The Distributed Feature Model, de Groot, 1992). Mae'n hanfodol felly, bod mwy o waith empeiraidd yn cael ei gynnal er mwyn ein galluogi I lunio darlun manylach o semanteg dwyieithog (Multilink, Dijkstra et al, 2018).