Differences in Lexical Access Efficiency in Croatian-English Bilinguals

Zovko Dinković, Irena and Šojer, Tena. (2012). Differences in Lexical Access Efficiency in Croatian-English Bilinguals. Studia Romanica et Anglica Zagrabiensia, 57. pp. 141-158. ISSN 0039-3339

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Abstract

Studies to date have shown that both bilingual adults and bilingual children score lower than their monolingual peers on standardized productive and receptive vocabulary measures. Since there is no significant difference in the size of the conceptual vocabulary between these groups, such results imply a more effortful lexical access in bilingual speakers. Several models have been constructed in attempts to explain these discrepancies, focusing on spreading activation and selection mechanisms in lexical access. There is, however, no conclusive evidence supporting either one of the models, and there are no studies which test for differences in performance of simultaneous and sequential bilingual speakers. We therefore tested the efficiency of lexical access in Croatian-English simultaneous and sequential bilinguals, using a picture vocabulary test, in order to determine whether there is a significant difference in receptive vocabulary performance between these two groups and in comparison to their monolingual peers.

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