Innovation in Language Learning

This study examines the relationship between bilinguals' languages, with a specific focus on cognitive storage and the structure of mental representations. The main premise of the paper is that, rather than being stored separately, bilinguals' two languages are fundamentally interconnected. During language comprehension, both languages compete for selection, and the language that is ultimately retrieved depends largely on context. However, some activation of the non-target language remains elevated at all times. To investigate the relationship between the two languages and their level of activation, we examined cross-linguistic priming effect on meaning evaluations of translation equivalents. Participants consisted of three groups of 30 L1 Croatian speakers with B2 proficiency in their L2. Two groups of participants evaluated the meaning of the corresponding words in their L1 or L2, while the third group evaluated the same L2 words after being primed by an L1 sentence containing the translation equivalent of the examined word. Participants rated the meaning of words on a semantic differential scale. Independent-samples t-tests were conducted to compare the mean ratings. Quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed a high degree of overlap in L1 and L2 meaning evaluations across the three groups. However, more extreme ratings were observed in the L1 group and in the group exposed to an L1 context prior to evaluating the L2 words. These findings support the claim that bilinguals' mental representations in their two languages overlap significantly and share a common conceptual store. However, the results also suggest that the representations are not entirely identical, as L1 words, being more strongly linked to personal experience, richer sensory detail, and greater emotional intensity, are more likely to evoke stronger and more personal responses.