| This study investigated the nature of lexical storage in Japanese-English bilingual speakers. A cross-language lexical-semantic priming task using cognate and non-cognate words was utilized to probe the nature of the lexical storage. This study sought to eliminate orthography as a confounding factor in priming tasks by addressing two distinct languages, Japanese and English; therefore allowing a closer investigation of the role of phonology in the bilingual lexical storage. This study demonstrated a strong priming effect across cognates regardless of language condition and positive priming effects across non-cognates only when the target was the less dominant language, English. Priming effect was observed only in the cognate status when Japanese, or the dominant language, was the target. These findings suggest a strong lexical access across phonology, rather than semantics. Findings of a lack of priming within Japanese are also discussed in terms of semantic activation that are unique to the script. |
