Abstract:

This study investigates the patterns of word associations in both L1 and L2-English mental lexicons of Chinese learners of English and the L1 mental lexicon of native English speakers via carefully designed word association tasks.It reveals that all L1 mental lexicons are semantically organized whereas the L2-English mental lexicon of the Chinese is a mixture of relatively more semantic associations and a considerable proportion of non-semantically-related associations.With the increase of language proficiency,L2 word associations develop with asymmetrical strength and asynchronous pace for paradigmatic and syntagmatic knowledge,which is quite different from that of L1.