The two experiments described in this article are focused on semantic priming in the context of lexical ambiguity and hierarchic model of mental lexicon. For both experiments, the verification method was a decision taken in the process of translating a sentence from Polish (L1) to English (L2). The decision was a result of solving dilemma of interpretation of the particular sentence that included homonym. The sentences used in the experiments were prepared in a manner that allowed them to be interpreted in at least two ways – each way being a direct result of interpretation of a ambiguous word meaning included in a sentence. In this study the secondary meanings of the homonyms were primed. In the first experiment the primes were presented in L2 – therefore this part of the study was concentrated on interlingual aspect of semantic priming. The second experiment was focused on intralingual aspect of semantic priming and the primes were presented in L1. The results of both experiments have shown the effect of semantic priming of ambiguous words’ meanings when translating from one language to another. Participants used significantly more often (when translating sentences from Polish to English) those English words the meaning of which was primed in the experimental groups during the first phase of the conducted experiments. We discuss the results in the context of the hierarchic model of mental lexicon in the case of bilingualism and we suggest possible paths for future research.

This article is devoted to the German classes of particles: Gradpartikel (degree particle) and Fokuspartikel (focus particle), which are assigned divergent contents in different grammars and lexicons. In addition to this, a problem with didactic implications is the inconsistency of terminology. For example, Helbig/Buscha (2001) apply the term Gradpartikel to expressions that Hentschel/Weydt (2013) classify as Fokuspartikel. Engel (2009), on the other hand, refers to the expressions as Gradpartikel, which in Hentschel/Weydt (2013) represent the classes Fokuspartikel and Intensivpartikel. There are more similar inconsistencies in the literature with regard to class names and the inclusion of particles within them. The aim of this article is to revise the classification criteria and analyse the distinguishing characteristics of these classes and to put the terminology in order. The choice of terms in this article was determined by the primary function of the class: Fokuspartikel is named according to the function of focusing attention on something (German: fokussieren), while Gradpartikel is named according to the function of reinforcing (German: gradieren).