Semantic Categorization in Portuguese-English Bilinguals

Authors

Lilian M. McLeod, Florida International UniversityFollow

Document Type

Thesis

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Major/Program

Linguistics

First Advisor's Name

Virginia C. Mueller Gathercole

First Advisor's Committee Title

Committee Chair

Second Advisor's Name

Ana Gouvea

Second Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Third Advisor's Name

Feryal Yavas

Third Advisor's Committee Title

Committee member

Keywords

Linguistics

Date of Defense

3-26-2015

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the cross-linguistic interactions in the semantic categorization of late Portuguese-English bilinguals. The lexical items used in this study have a wider range of applications in one language and narrower in the other. Three types of categories were examined: classical, homophones, and radials.

Late Portuguese-English bilinguals, as well as Portuguese and English monolinguals, were tested. After hearing a word, participants were asked to choose from a set of images, one that could be labelled as such.

Analyses showed that when tested in English, participants performed better when it was the wider language. Participants’ performance was lower on classical categories than on homophone and radial categories.

Identifier

FI15050207

Recommended Citation

McLeod, Lilian M., "Semantic Categorization in Portuguese-English Bilinguals" (2015). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1825.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1825