Cross-language interactions during novel word learning: The contribution of form similarity and participant characteristics

Abstract The study examined whether false-cognates, overlapping in form but not meaning across languages, are easier to learn due overlap, or more difficult competition, compared unambiguous control and cognate words. Fifty-four native Hebrew speakers learned 14 cognates, 28 Arabic words one session. Cognates were better than items. There was no overall difference learning false-cognates relative controls, individuals with higher phonological short-term memory, lower L1 verbal fluency, did exhibit a false-cognate learning-advantage. For these individuals, overlap influential competition. Lexical decisions following slower for indicative of backward influences. findings reveal the influence prior knowledge on processing, highlight importance jointly considering item-based learner-based characteristics during initial stages vocabulary learning.