Mapping Written Input onto Orthographic Representations: The Case of Bilinguals With Partially Overlapping Orthographies

Mapping of written input onto orthographic representations was examined in bilingual speakers whose two languages have partially overlapping orthographies. Russian-English bilinguals and English monolinguals were tested with a modified version of the picture-word interference paradigm, adapted for use with eye-tracking. Compared to English monolinguals, Russian-English bilinguals (tested in English) made more eye movements to written stimuli that, if mapped onto two orthographic systems simultaneously, constituted Russian words. Results suggest parallel activation of both languages during visual processing of written input, even when the orthography is associated with different phonological representations in the two languages. We suggest that decoding of written input in languages with partial orthographic overlap is not limited to one language only, but that the mapping of visual stimuli takes place onto the orthographic systems of both languages and that lexical representations in the non-target language become activated.