A Study on Bilingual Semantic Processing: Category Effects and Age Effects
The present study addressed the nature of bilingual semantic processing in Mandarin Chinese and Southern Min and examined category effects and age effects. Nineteen bilingual adults of Mandarin Chinese and Southern Min, nine monolingual seniors of Mandarin Chinese, and ten monolingual seniors of Southern Min in Taiwan individually completed two semantic tasks: Picture naming and category fluency tasks. The instruments for the naming task were sixty black-and-white pictures, including thirty-five object pictures and twenty-five action pictures. The category fluency task also consisted of two semantic categories – objects (or nouns) and actions (or verbs). The reaction time for each picture/question was additionally calculated and analyzed. Oral productions in Mandarin Chinese and in Southern Min were compared and discussed to examine the category effects and age effects. The results of the category fluency task indicated that the content of information of these seniors was comparatively deteriorated, and thus they produced a smaller number of semantic-lexical items. Significant group differences were also found in the reaction time results. Category effects were significant for both adults and seniors in the semantic fluency task. The findings of the present study will help characterize the nature of the bilingual semantic processing of adults and seniors, and contribute to the fields of contrastive and corpus linguistics.
[1] Connor, L. T., Spiro, A., Obler, L. K., & Albert, M. L. (2004). Change in object naming ability during adulthood. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 59B, 203-209.
[2] Feyereisen, P. (1997). A meta-analytic procedure shows an age-related decline in picture naming: Comments on Goulet, Ska, and Kahn. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 40, 1328-1333.
[3] Goulet, P., Ska, B., & Kahn, H.J. (1994). Is there a decline in picture naming with advancing age? Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 37, 629-644.
[4] Schmitter-Edgecombe, M., Vesneski, M., & Jones, D. (2000). Aging and word finding: A comparison of discourse and non-discourse tests. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 15, 479-493.
[5] Barresi, B. A., Nicholas, M., Connor, L. T., Obler, L., & Albert, M. L. (2000). Semantic degradation and lexical access in age-related naming failures. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 7, 169-178.
[6] Morrison, C. M., Hirsh, K. W., & Duggan, G. B. (2003). Age of acquisition, ageing, and verb production: Normative and experimental data. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Experimental Psychology, 56, 705-730.
[7] Burke, D. M., & Shafto, M. A. (2007). Language and aging. In F.I.M. Craik & T.A. Salthouse (Eds.), The handbook of aging and cognition (pp. 373-443). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
[8] Burke, D.M., & Shafto, M. A. (2004). Aging and language production. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 21-24.
[9] Burke, D. M., & Shafto, M. A. (2007). Language and aging. In F.I.M. Craik & T.A. Salthouse (Eds.), The handbook of aging and cognition (pp. 373-443). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
[10] Lindenberger, U., & Baltes, P. B. (1997). Intellectual functioning in old and very old age: Cross-sectional results from the Berlin aging study. Psychology and Aging, 12, 410-432.
[11] Mitchell, D. B. (1989). How many memory systems? Evidence from aging. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 15, 31–49.
[12] Brown, R., & McNeill, D. (1966). The “tip of the tongue” phenomenon. Journal of Verbal Learning Behavior, 5, 325-337.
[13] Burke, D. M., MacKay, D. G., Worthley, J. S., & Wade, E. (1991). On the tip of the tongue: What causes word finding failures in younger and older adults. Journal of Memory and Language, 30, 542-579.
[14] Miozzo, M., & Caramazza, A. (1997). Retrieval of lexical-syntactic features in tip-of-thetongue states. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 1410-1423.
[15] Rabbitt, P., Maylor, E., McInnes, L., Bent, N., & Moore, B. (1995). What goods can self-assessment questionnaires deliver for cognitive gerontology? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 9, S127-S152.
[16] Ryan, E.B., See, S.K., Meneer, W.B., & Trovato, D. (1994). Age-based perceptions of conversational skills among younger and older adults. In M.L. Hummert, J.M. Wiemann, & J.N. Nussbaum (Eds.) Interpersonal communication in older adulthood (pp.15-39). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
[17] Schweich, M., Van der Linden, M., Brédart, S., Bruyer, R., Nelles, B., & Schils, J. P. (1992). Daily-life difficulties in person recognition reported by young and elderly subjects. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 6, 161-172.
[18] Teng, S. H. (1975). A semantic study of transitivity relations in Chinese. Taipei: Student Bookstore.
[19] Hsu, H. H. (2008). Collocation and applications of Chinese verb classification. Unpublished master’s thesis. National Taiwan Normal University.
[1] Connor, L. T., Spiro, A., Obler, L. K., & Albert, M. L. (2004). Change in object naming ability during adulthood. Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences, 59B, 203-209.
[2] Feyereisen, P. (1997). A meta-analytic procedure shows an age-related decline in picture naming: Comments on Goulet, Ska, and Kahn. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 40, 1328-1333.
[3] Goulet, P., Ska, B., & Kahn, H.J. (1994). Is there a decline in picture naming with advancing age? Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 37, 629-644.
[4] Schmitter-Edgecombe, M., Vesneski, M., & Jones, D. (2000). Aging and word finding: A comparison of discourse and non-discourse tests. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 15, 479-493.
[5] Barresi, B. A., Nicholas, M., Connor, L. T., Obler, L., & Albert, M. L. (2000). Semantic degradation and lexical access in age-related naming failures. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 7, 169-178.
[6] Morrison, C. M., Hirsh, K. W., & Duggan, G. B. (2003). Age of acquisition, ageing, and verb production: Normative and experimental data. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Experimental Psychology, 56, 705-730.
[7] Burke, D. M., & Shafto, M. A. (2007). Language and aging. In F.I.M. Craik & T.A. Salthouse (Eds.), The handbook of aging and cognition (pp. 373-443). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
[8] Burke, D.M., & Shafto, M. A. (2004). Aging and language production. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 21-24.
[9] Burke, D. M., & Shafto, M. A. (2007). Language and aging. In F.I.M. Craik & T.A. Salthouse (Eds.), The handbook of aging and cognition (pp. 373-443). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
[10] Lindenberger, U., & Baltes, P. B. (1997). Intellectual functioning in old and very old age: Cross-sectional results from the Berlin aging study. Psychology and Aging, 12, 410-432.
[11] Mitchell, D. B. (1989). How many memory systems? Evidence from aging. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 15, 31–49.
[12] Brown, R., & McNeill, D. (1966). The “tip of the tongue” phenomenon. Journal of Verbal Learning Behavior, 5, 325-337.
[13] Burke, D. M., MacKay, D. G., Worthley, J. S., & Wade, E. (1991). On the tip of the tongue: What causes word finding failures in younger and older adults. Journal of Memory and Language, 30, 542-579.
[14] Miozzo, M., & Caramazza, A. (1997). Retrieval of lexical-syntactic features in tip-of-thetongue states. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 23, 1410-1423.
[15] Rabbitt, P., Maylor, E., McInnes, L., Bent, N., & Moore, B. (1995). What goods can self-assessment questionnaires deliver for cognitive gerontology? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 9, S127-S152.
[16] Ryan, E.B., See, S.K., Meneer, W.B., & Trovato, D. (1994). Age-based perceptions of conversational skills among younger and older adults. In M.L. Hummert, J.M. Wiemann, & J.N. Nussbaum (Eds.) Interpersonal communication in older adulthood (pp.15-39). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
[17] Schweich, M., Van der Linden, M., Brédart, S., Bruyer, R., Nelles, B., & Schils, J. P. (1992). Daily-life difficulties in person recognition reported by young and elderly subjects. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 6, 161-172.
[18] Teng, S. H. (1975). A semantic study of transitivity relations in Chinese. Taipei: Student Bookstore.
[19] Hsu, H. H. (2008). Collocation and applications of Chinese verb classification. Unpublished master’s thesis. National Taiwan Normal University.
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:72968", author = "Lai Yi-Hsiu", title = "A Study on Bilingual Semantic Processing: Category Effects and Age Effects", abstract = "The present study addressed the nature of bilingual semantic processing in Mandarin Chinese and Southern Min and examined category effects and age effects. Nineteen bilingual adults of Mandarin Chinese and Southern Min, nine monolingual seniors of Mandarin Chinese, and ten monolingual seniors of Southern Min in Taiwan individually completed two semantic tasks: Picture naming and category fluency tasks. The instruments for the naming task were sixty black-and-white pictures, including thirty-five object pictures and twenty-five action pictures. The category fluency task also consisted of two semantic categories – objects (or nouns) and actions (or verbs). The reaction time for each picture/question was additionally calculated and analyzed. Oral productions in Mandarin Chinese and in Southern Min were compared and discussed to examine the category effects and age effects. The results of the category fluency task indicated that the content of information of these seniors was comparatively deteriorated, and thus they produced a smaller number of semantic-lexical items. Significant group differences were also found in the reaction time results. Category effects were significant for both adults and seniors in the semantic fluency task. The findings of the present study will help characterize the nature of the bilingual semantic processing of adults and seniors, and contribute to the fields of contrastive and corpus linguistics.
", keywords = "Bilingual semantic processing, aging, Mandarin Chinese, Southern Min. ", volume = "10", number = "6", pages = "1822-6", }
