Cognate effects in picture naming: Does cross-language activation survive a change of script?

• DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2007.02.001
• Publication Date: 2007-03-29T07:16:59Z
• Authors: Noriko Hoshino; Judith F. Kroll
• Keywords: Cognate

Bilinguals are faster to name a picture in one language when the picture's name is a cognate in the other language. We asked whether cognate facilitation in picture naming would be obtained for bilinguals whose two languages differ in script. Spanish-English and Japanese-English bilinguals named cognate and noncognate pictures in English, their second language (L2). Cognate facilitation was observed for both groups. The results suggest that there is cross-language activation of phonology even for different-script bilinguals.