The Time Course of Chinese-English Bilinguals’ L2 Activation During L1 Semantic and Orthographic Tasks

Utilizing both behavioral measurements and event-related potentials (ERPs), this study examines the temporal dynamics of second language (L2) activation during different first language (L1) tasks in Chinese-English bilinguals. Experiment 1 involved participants performing a semantic relatedness judgment task, while Experiment 2 engaged participants in an orthographic judgment task. The results of Experiment 1 showed that the English alliteration effect was observed in both the P200 and N400 components, indicating that when Chinese-English bilinguals focused on the semantic aspect of their L1, English as a non-target language was activated within these time windows. In Experiment 2, the English alliteration effect was significant not only in the P200 and N400 components but also in the late positive component (LPC), suggesting that Chinese-English bilinguals continuously activated English as a non-target language when focusing on the orthographic form of their L1. These results revealed that the L2 was automatically activated within the P200 time window in different L1 tasks, more rapidly than the conventional activation pattern in the N400 time window. However, the subsequent activation status depended on the specific requirements of the L1 task. This study provided new evidence for the time course of cross-linguistic interaction between Chinese and English.