ISSN:1005-3026

TRANSLATION PRIMING IN MALAY-ARABIC BILINGUALS

Usman Jaffer 1,5 , Che Mohd Nasril Che Mohd Nassir 2 , Rahmah Ahmad H. Osman 1,5* , Bruce Stevenson 3 , Mohamed Ayaaz Ahmed 4 , Mohamad Afiudin Jalaludin 6 , Nursyuhaidah Mohd Kadri7

1 . AbdulHamid Abusulayman Kulliyyah of Islamic Revealed Knowledge and Human Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia, 50728 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; jafferu@iium.edu.my; rahmahao@iium.edu.my

2 . Faculty of Applied Sciences, University Technology Mara, 35400, Perak Darul Ridzuan, Malaysia; nasrilche123@gmail.com

  1. Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Psychology, University of New England, Armidale, Australia bstevens@une.edu.au

4 . Southern Ambition 473 CC, 7764, Cape Town, South Africa, ayaaz@reamz.co.za

5 . International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation (ISTAC) International Islamic University Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

  1. Klinik Psikologi Azlina, Bandar Bukit Mahkota, Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia; afiudin1995@gmail.com
  2. Faculty of Social Sciences and Liberal Arts, UCSI University, Jalan Puncak Menara Gading, Taman Connaught, 56000 Cheras, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur; Nursyuhaidah@ucsiuniversity.edu.my

It is argued that in the bilingual’s the first (L1) and second (L2) language, even proficient individuals rely on the information stored in the L1 lexicon. Thus, translation priming effects are found from L1-L2 but not necessarily from L2-L1. The valence of the word however could be encoded at an early stage of L2 acquisition and thus could have an effect onword activation and thus translation priming. The aim of this study is therefore to investigate translation priming in Malay-Arabic bilinguals and to investigate the effects of valence on these translations. A total of 68 participants with Malay as L1 and Arabic as L2, ranging from 19–24 years of age (M= 20.79 ± 1.51 years) were recruited. The priming paradigm was used in four language conditions L1–L1, L2–L2, L2–L1, and L1–L2.For each of the four language conditions, these reflect the factors, prime exposure (masked/overt), prime type (control, repetition and translation), and target valence (neutral, positive, negative). In L1-L2 conditions translation priming was found at a preconscious and conscious level when the target was neutral, positive or negative in valence. In the L2-L1 condition translation priming was only evident in positive and negative targets. In positive targets masked and overt priming effects were found, however for negative targets effects were only found when overt priming was used. This opens the door for further research in these phenomena. Keywords: Bilingual; Malay language; Arabic language; Priming; Translation; Visual Recognition; Valence Evaluation