An Investigation Into The Link Patterns Of L2 Mental Lexicon

The word link pattern is an important dimension in mental lexicon. The aim of this study is to analyze the factors affecting the links of L2 mental lexicon and further investigate into the link patterns of L2 mental lexicon. Word links in L2 mental lexicon include paradigmatic, syntagmatic, frame, clang-other (phonological) and no response. Among with, paradigmatic and syntagmatic responses belong to the semantic links and other three response types are non-semantic connections.The present study is based on the theoretical frameworks of semantic networks, the depth of individual word knowledge model and the representation of L2 mental lexicon. This study explores the effects of language proficiency, depth of word knowledge and word class on the links of L2 mental lexicon through a word association test and vocabulary knowledge scale test, which are administered upon two groups of different language proficiency students using the same list of prompt words. The subjects include 30 university sophomores majoring in English as high level group and 18 senior-one middle school students as low level group. The response words produced by participants in word association test are categorized into five types of links mentioned above. And the proportion of these types is calculated and analyzed with the program of SPSS 11.5. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the data point to the following findings of this study:1. As a whole, the link patterns of L2 mental lexicon are mainly semantic. However, the non-semantic links have a certain proportion, especially for the low level learners. This indicates that semantic network of L2 learners is not completely tight. Language proficiency has effect on the link patterns of L2 mental lexicon. High level learners produce more semantic responses than low level learners. However, the concept of a syntagmatic-paradigmatic shift as an indication of proficiency development has not been proved because both groups produce most paradigmatic responses.2. The depth of word knowledge is an important factor affecting the links of L2 mental lexicon. For unfamiliar words, L2 learners produce most phonological responses or no responses. For familiar words, they produce predominant semantic responses. This indicates that the links of L2 mental lexicon develop in a systematic way from predominant form links to predominant semantic links as a word is integrated into the mental lexicon,.3. The link patterns of different word classes are not the same in L2 mental lexicon. For paradigmatic and frame response, there is a significant difference among nouns, verbs and adjectives. For syntagmatic and clang-other responses, the significances are not found. Generally, nouns and adjectives in L2 mental lexicon tend to be organized semantically while verbs tend to be stored phonologically. This indicates that nouns and adjectives are acquired easier than verbs. In terms of semantic relations, the qualitative analysis shows that nouns elicit more collocations and superordinates and subordinates, while verbs and adjectives trigger more collocations, synonyms and antonyms.The findings above are discussed from the aspects of semantic network, lexical fossilization and vocabulary acquisition. Then the results show in the framework of L2 mental lexicon cognitive processing. Finally, we draw several implications for vocabulary learning and teaching. To strengthen the semantic links of L2 mental lexicon for English learners, we should build L2 semantic network, deepen word knowledge and strengthen the conscious of word class.