title: Repetition priming within and between languages in verb generation: evidence for shared verb concepts.
abstract: Although translation equivalents for concrete nouns are known to have shared core conceptual representations in bilingual memory (Francis, 1999), the status of translation-equivalent verbs has not been systematically tested. Three repetition-priming experiments using a verb generation task were used to determine whether verbs have shared representations across languages and to identify the processes facilitated in repeated verb generation. In Experiment 1 fluent Spanish-English bilingual speakers exhibited repetition priming both within and between languages, but between-language priming was weaker. In Experiment 2 performance of non-bilingual English and Spanish speakers was equivalent to that of bilingual speakers responding in their dominant language. Experiment 3 used manipulations meant to isolate noun comprehension, verb concept selection, and verb production. The between-language priming in Experiments 1 and 3 indicates that verb concepts are shared across languages and that verb concept selection exhibits facilitation. Experiment 3 showed that the greater within-language priming was due primarily to facilitation of verb production processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, TX 79968, USA. edelariva@miners.utep.edu
authors.forename: Eva M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: de la Riva López
authors.forename: Wendy S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Francis
authors.forename: Jaime
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: García
mesh_terms: D032882:Comprehension; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory; D008606:Mental Processes; D019303:Multilingualism; D060865:Repetition Priming; D012660:Semantics; D055815:Young Adult