Abstract:

The languages used by a trilingual speaker can be of different linguistic distances. As for the trilinguals of closer linguistic distance, the L3 lexical processing is more significantly affected by the L2 lexical system due to the similarity of acquisition (L2 effect). Yet, the Chinese-English-Japanese (C-E-J) trilinguals encounter a more complex interactive relationship of linguistic distance and acquisition, for which there is still insufficient empirical evidence. This study employs semantic judgement tasks with word pairs of same/different L3→L2 translation and word pairs of same/different L3∩L1 orthography, so as to investigate whether and how the C-E-J trilinguals’ L3 lexical semantic processing is affected by L2 effect and linguistic distance. The results indicate that reaction times (RTs) and error rates (ERs) of L3→L2 congruent word pairs are significantly longer and slightly higher than those of the incongruent word pairs, showing no significant L2 effect; RTs and ERs of L3∩L1 orthographically similar word pairs are significantly shorter and lower than those of the orthographically different word pairs, which validates the dominant role of linguistic distance. The results are further discussed starting from the L2 effect and linguistic distance and the conclusion is drawn that close attention should be paid to the inter-lingual influence from both factors in the teaching of L3 vocabulary.

Keywords: L3→L2 congruency; L3∩L1 similar orthography; cross-linguistic influence; L2 effect; language distance

摘要：

三语者掌握的语言可能有不同的距离。语言距离相近时,L3词汇加工更易受习得状态相似的L2词汇影响（二语效应）。但汉—英—日三语者的语言距离和二语效应更复杂,尚少有研究证据。本文采用同/异译词对（L3→L2）和同/异形词对（L3∩L1）的语义判断任务,考察汉—英—日三语者的L3词汇加工是否受到二语效应和语言距离的影响。结果显示,加工L3→L2同译词对的反应时显著增加、错误率稍稍降低,未见二语效应,而L3∩L1同形词对的反应时、错误率均显著降低,语言距离的作用显著。文章从二语效应、语言距离展开讨论,认为三语词汇教学须同时重视两者的语际影响。

关键词: L3→L2同译, L3∩L1同形, 语际影响, 二语效应, 语言距离