Dutch-English cognates and word class do not facilitate the processing of intra-sentential switches: A critical replication study

Authors: Mila Irmawati, Levi Remijnse and Ayse Gunal
Source: LingUU Journal, Vol. 6, Iss. 1, pp. 29-38
Year: 2022
Published by: LingUU Journal

Abstract
This study investigates the effect of the word class of cognates on the cognitive cost involved in switching from L1 Dutch to L2 English in successive bilinguals. In our Self-Paced Reading (SPR) Task, 33 participants
were presented with Dutch sentences with an intra-sentential switch to
English occurring after a cognate. Our results showed no facilitation effect
of cognate types, word class, or its interaction on easing the transition. It
is also possible that SPR is not a suitable task to measure the cognitive
cost of cognates during the code-switching process. Future studies on the
facilitation effect of cognates’ word classes should consider other or additional methods as well.

Keywords
cognates; word class; code-switching; self-paced reading

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