The processing of interlexical homographs in translation recognition and lexical decision: Support for non-selective access to bilingual memory

In three experiments we looked at the processing of interlexical homographs by Dutch-English bilinguals. In Experiment 1 we employed the translation r ecognition task, a task that forces the participants to activate both langu age systems simultaneously. In this task the processing of interlexical hom ographs was inhibited substantially compared to the processing of matched c ontrol words, especially when the homograph reading to be selected was the less frequent of the homograph's two readings. In Experiments 2 and 3 we us ed the lexical decision task: In one condition we asked the participants to categorize letter strings as words or nonwords in Dutch; in a second condi tion we asked them to do so in English. The makeup of the stimulus set in E xperiment 2 permitted the participants to ignore the instructions and to in stantiate the task in a language-neutral form-that is, to categorize the le tter strings as words in either Dutch or English. Under these circumstances a small, frequency-dependent inhibitory effect for homographs was obtained , but only in condition Dutch. In Experiment 3 the participants were forced in a language-specific processing mode by the inclusion of "nonwords" that were in fact words in the non-target language. Large frequency-dependent i nhibitory effects for homographs were now obtained in both language conditi ons. The combined results are interpreted as support for the view that bili ngual lexical access is non-selective.