Assist. Prof. Dr. Serkan Uygun's TÜBİTAK 3501 Project Accepted

The TÜBİTAK 3501 - Career Development Program project titled "Morphological Processing in L1 and L2 Speakers: A Psycholinguistic Approach to Turkish and English", to be carried out by Assist. Prof. Dr. Serkan Uygun between 15 February 2024 and 15 February 2026, has been accepted with a budget of 767,800.00 TL.

Project Summary: How morphologically derived words are processed has been debated for many years, and various studies on this topic have been conducted in many European languages. These studies have mainly focused on the effect of semantic transparency on the processing of derived words. While some studies have found evidence for the use of morpho-orthographic information, others support the use of morpho-semantic information, and a small number of studies have supported a hybrid model involving both types of information. This project aims to investigate the processing patterns of derived words not only in English but also in Turkish. Moreover, the project not only investigates the morphological processing patterns of L1 speakers but also focuses on those of L2 speakers. By applying a masked priming experiment to L1 and L2 speakers of Turkish and English, the main research questions of the project investigate how L1 speakers of Turkish and English morphologically process derived words, whether the semantic transparency of these words affects processing patterns, how L2 speakers of Turkish and English process these words, and whether L2 speakers differ from L1 speakers. If a difference is observed, why and how L2 speakers differ from L1 speakers will be investigated. Based on word recognition/reaction time data, this project will provide additional information on the processing of L1 English but, more importantly, will offer insights into how L1 Turkish speakers process these words, and will make an important contribution to the L2 processing literature, which needs further studies to reach generalizable conclusions about L2 processing patterns. In addition, the possible variability that word recognition/reaction time data may show both between and within groups will provide more information and better insight into the morphological processing patterns of L1 and L2 speakers. Furthermore, by investigating the morphological processing patterns of monolingual speakers and speakers with advanced proficiency in a second language, the project aims to question the effect of advanced second language proficiency on morphological processing. The project will test the validity of the views and models in the literature for speakers of Turkish and English as L1 and L2. At the same time, it will provide important information on whether advanced proficiency in a second language affects morphological processing patterns in the native language. The project will enable the principal investigator to become an independent researcher, develop knowledge and expertise on the project topic, become a qualified researcher through both publishing and presenting the outputs at conferences, and thus develop their potential and future career. The project will also raise awareness of Turkish as L1 and L2, encourage other researchers to explore different aspects of Turkish, and help make Turkish a popular language in research projects.