LEXICAL AND CONCEPTUAL PROCESSING IN CHINESE-ENGLISH BILINGUALS - FURTHER EVIDENCE FOR ASYMMETRY

According to the asymmetry model of bilingual representation (Kroll & Stewart, 1994), the first language (L1) lexicon is closely tied to an underlying conceptual memory, whereas second language (L2) items are m ostly associated with their L1 equivalents. An outcome of this archite cture is that L1-to-L2, or forward, translation must be mediated by th e conceptual memory, whereas L2-to-L1 (backward) translation takes a d irect lexical path. Some predictions derived from this hypothetical st ructure were tested in the present study, which took into account, thr ough analysis of covariance, variations in response production time, c oncept retrieval time, and some other characteristics associated with the individual test items. Proficient Chinese-English bilinguals were tested on delayed production (Balota & Chumbley, 1985), picture naming , word translation, and category matching. The expected asymmetrical p attern of translation latencies (i.e., forward > backward) was demonst rated, although it could be statistically explained by the item charac teristic of familiarity; matching an L1 item to a category name was fa ster than matching an L2 item, suggesting relatively strong L1 concept ual links. The present results are best accommodated by a form of asym metry that allows for nondominant L2-concept linkage, the use of which is conditional upon the familiarity of the test item to the bilingual .