Influence of semantic priming on bilingual perception of style varieties of English speech

The main objective of this study was to assess the perceptual degree of semantic information in conditions of speech variability (conversational style / reading) when presenting English-language material. It was assumed that the reaction time to stimuli with a high frequency-semantic coefficient, pronounced in a clear speech register (reading), should be higher in the group with a more professional level than in the group at the initial level of language training, when contrasting experimental stimuli with low-frequency semantic units pronounced in a conversational style. The results showed selective activation of single stimuli when making a lexical decision in both experimental groups in each of the presented experimental conditions. The data from both language groups did not show a general semantic effect and the influence of speech style on the perception of experimental units, regardless of the level of language competence. The revealed semantic effect of exclusively high-frequency units indicates an internal frequency-rating organization of the presented experimental stimuli. The effect of semantic priming occurs on the material of the most recognizable phrases and indicates the absence of a direct relationship with the level of professionalism of the experiment participants.