Relative clauses in L2 learners’ spoken Korean.

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-90
Author(s):  
Hyeson Park ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Relative Clauses ◽  
L2 Learners

The comprehension of Turkish relative clauses in second language acquisition and agrammatism

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
ÖZGÜR AYDIN
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Linear Distance ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Structural Distance ◽  
Early Learners ◽  
Significant Support ◽  
Object Relative

The purposes of this study are to test whether the processing of subject relative (SR) clauses is easier than that of object relative (OR) clauses in Turkish and to investigate whether the comprehension of SRs can be better explained by the linear distance hypothesis or structural distance hypothesis (SDH). The question is examined in two groups of second language (L2) learners of different proficiency levels and a few agrammatics expected to show a similar pattern. Each participant is asked to comprehend 15 sentences containing SRs and ORs via a picture selection task. The results indicate that comprehension of SRs is easier than that of ORs for intermediate level L2 learners, whereas there is no significant difference between the types of relative clauses for early learners. Another result is that early learners produce errors similar to those of agrammatics, which are explained through trace deletion and referential strategy. These findings on Turkish provide significant support for the SDH.

Working memory effects on L1 and L2 processing of ambiguous relative clauses by Korean L2 learners of English

2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ji Hyon Kim ◽  
Kiel Christianson
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Working Memory Capacity ◽  
First Language ◽  
Memory Capacity ◽  
L2 Processing ◽  
Processing Strategies ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L1 And L2

In this study, we report the results of two self-paced reading experiments that investigated working memory capacity effects on the processing of globally ambiguous relative clauses by advanced Korean second language (L2) learners of English. Consistent with previous monolingual literature on the processing of temporary ambiguity, we found that working memory capacity was a factor that also affected the processing of globally ambiguous relative clauses. High working memory capacity was positively correlated with a processing disadvantage reflected as slower reading times at the region where the ambiguity becomes detectable, and longer response times to decide on a correct disambiguation for the target structure. Furthermore, a similar pattern was also found in the same participants’ processing of L2 ambiguity. We conclude that for highly advanced L2 learners, the processing strategies employed for ambiguous structures are not qualitatively different between the same individual’s first language (L1) and L2, but rather differ across readers of different working memory capacities.

Processing Chinese relative clauses: An investigation of second-language learners from different learning contexts

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qin Yao ◽  
Claire Renaud
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
Head Noun ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
The Us ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Matrix Subject

AbstractThe goal of this study is to examine the processing of Chinese relative clauses (RCs) through a self-paced reading task and to determine whether the learning environment plays a role in the second-language (L2) acquisition of RCs. We investigated two types of RCs (subject vs. object RCs) along with two positions in which a RC can occur (modifying a matrix subject noun phrase [NP] vs. a matrix object NP). Eighteen native speakers of Chinese and twenty-one L2 learners at an intermediate proficiency level participated in the study. Ten learners were students learning Chinese in the US (i. e., in a foreign-language context), whereas the other eleven learners were students studying Chinese in China (i. e., in a study-abroad context). The comprehension of sentences containing a RC and reading times (RTs) on the RC and the head noun (the segment immediately following the RC) were analyzed. The results show distinct patterns for the learners and the native speakers. The accuracy data reveals that the L2 learners in China performed better than the L2 learners in the US. Additionally, the L2 learners in China exhibited a processing speed advantage to the L2 learners in the US. The RT data highlighted important asymmetries in the L2 learners in the US and the native speakers, while the results were flat for the L2 learners in China. Specifically, L2 learners in the US took longer to read object RCs than subject RCs while the opposite pattern was obtained for the L1 speakers. Moreover, matrix-object-modifying RCs revealed shorter RTs than matrix-subject-modifying RCs for L2 learners in the US, whereas the opposite pattern was found for the L1 speakers. These findings are discussed in light of the Linear Distance Theory and the Structural Distance Theory (e. g., O’Grady 1997. Syntactic development. Chicago: University of Chicago Press). Overall, these results seem to provide support to the assumption that changes in syntactic processing happen as a result of exposure to the language environment (Cuetos et al. 1996. Parsing in different languages. In Manuel Carreias, Jose E. Garcia-Albea & Nuria Sebastien-Galles (eds.), Language processing in Spanish, 145–187. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum; Frenck–Mestre 2002. An on-line look at sentence processing in the second language. In Roberto Heredia & Jeanette Altarriba (eds.), Bilingual sentence processing, 217–236. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science Publishers.).

A preposition is something you can end a sentence with: Learning English stranded prepositions through structural priming

2014 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A Conroy ◽  
Inés Antón-Méndez
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Second Language Acquisition ◽  
Language Acquisition ◽  
Implicit Learning ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Syntactic Structure ◽  
Conscious Awareness ◽  
Structural Priming ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
Second Language Acquisition Theory

This study investigated whether second language (L2) learners of English could learn to produce stranded prepositions through structural priming. Structural priming is the tendency for speakers to repeat the structure of previously experienced sentences, without intention or conscious awareness of such behaviour, and is thought to be associated with implicit learning of syntactic structure. The syntactic structure chosen for this study was the stranded preposition in English relative clauses, a structure which is known to be difficult for L2 learners to acquire, and which is often replaced by a related ungrammatical interlanguage variant: null preposition (null prep). It was hypothesized that, during and just after a structural priming treatment, learners would produce more sentences containing stranded prepositions and fewer null prep sentences than before the treatment. The results revealed that learners indeed produced more stranded prepositions during and after priming than before and we interpret this behaviour as a possible indication of implicit learning of an L2 structure. However, learners did not produce significantly fewer null preps during and after priming than before. We discuss the findings in terms of second language acquisition theory, interlanguage processes, and possible pedagogical implications.

Animacy affects the processing of subject–object ambiguities in the second language: Evidence from self-paced reading with German second language learners of Dutch

2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 671-691 ◽  
Author(s):  
CARRIE N. JACKSON ◽  
LEAH ROBERTS
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Learners ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Second Language Learners ◽  
Native Speakers ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
On Line ◽  
Auxiliary Verb ◽  
Grammatical Roles ◽  
Reading Study

ABSTRACTThe results of a self-paced reading study with German second language (L2) learners of Dutch showed that noun animacy affected the learners' on-line commitments when comprehending relative clauses in their L2. Earlier research has found that German L2 learners of Dutch do not show an on-line preference for subject–object word order in temporarily ambiguous relative clauses when no disambiguating material is available prior to the auxiliary verb. We investigated whether manipulating the animacy of the ambiguous noun phrases would push the learners to make an on-line commitment to either a subject- or object-first analysis. Results showed they performed like Dutch native speakers in that their reading times reflected an interaction between topichood and animacy in the on-line assignment of grammatical roles.

Processing relative clauses in Chinese as a second language

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Xu
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Word Order ◽  
Relative Clauses ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
The Other ◽  
Domain Theory ◽  
Sentence Reading ◽  
Reading Technique ◽  
L2 Learners

This project investigates second language (L2) learners’ processing of four types of Chinese relative clauses crossing extraction types and demonstrative-classifier (DCl) positions. Using a word order judgment task with a whole-sentence reading technique, the study also discusses how psycholinguistic theories bear explanatory power in L2 data. An overall preference for DCl-first structures and an advantage of DCl-subject relative clauses over the other three structures were found. Results were largely compatible with the filler-gap domain theory and indicated a weak subject-gap advantage. These motivations are subject to influences from other factors, and a multi-constraint proposal was proposed.

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