Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T23:58:25.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Processing reflexives in a second language: The timing of structural and discourse-level constraints

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2011

CLAUDIA FELSER  and
IAN CUNNINGS
CLAUDIA FELSER*
Affiliation:
University of Essex
IAN CUNNINGS
Affiliation:
University of Essex
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Claudia Felser, Department of Language and Linguistics, University of Essex, Colchester CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

We report the results from two eye-movement monitoring experiments examining the processing of reflexive pronouns by proficient German-speaking learners of second language (L2) English. Our results show that the nonnative speakers initially tried to link English argument reflexives to a discourse-prominent but structurally inaccessible antecedent, thereby violating binding condition A. Our native speaker controls, in contrast, showed evidence of applying condition A immediately during processing. Together, our findings show that L2 learners’ initial focusing on a structurally inaccessible antecedent cannot be due to first language influence and is also independent of whether the inaccessible antecedent c-commands the reflexive. This suggests that unlike native speakers, nonnative speakers of English initially attempt to interpret reflexives through discourse-based coreference assignment rather than syntactic binding.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , July 2012 , pp. 571 - 603
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Badecker, W., & Straub, K. (2002). The processing role of structural constraints on the interpretation of pronouns and anaphors. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 28, 748–769.Google ScholarPubMed
Büring, D. (2005). Binding theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, N. (1981). Lectures on government and binding. Dordrecht: Foris.Google Scholar
Clahsen, H., & Felser, C. (2006). Grammatical processing in language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27, 3–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dallas, A., & Kaan, E. (2008). Second language processing of filler-gap dependencies by late learners. Language and Linguistics Compass, 2, 372–388.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demirci, M. (2000). The role of pragmatics in reflexive interpretation by Turkish learners of English. Second Language Research, 16, 325–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Demirci, M. (2001). Acquisition of binding of English reflexives by Turkish L2 learners: A neo-gricean pragmatic account. Journal of Pragmatics, 33, 753–775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Felser, C., Sato, M., & Bertenshaw, N. (2009). The on-line application of Binding Principle A in English as a second language. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 12, 485–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferreira, F., Bailey, K., & Ferraro, V. (2002). Good enough representations in language comprehension. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11, 11–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frenck-Mestre, C. (2005). Eye-movement recording as a tool for studying syntactic processing in a second language: A review of methodologies and experimental findings. Second Language Research, 21, 175–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, T., Wexler, K., & Holcomb, P. (2000). An ERP investigation of binding and coreference. Brain and Language, 75, 313–346.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hawkins, R. (2001). Second language syntax: A generative introduction. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hopp, H. (2006). Syntactic features and reanalysis in near-native processing. Second Language Research, 22, 369–397.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koornneef, A. (2008). Eye-catching anaphora. LOT Dissertation Series 90. Utrecht: Netherlands Graduate School of Linguistics (LOT).Google Scholar
Lee, K.-Y. (2008). The role of pragmatics in reflexive interpretation in Korean learners of English. In Bowles, M., Foote, R., Perpiñán, S., & Bhatt, R. (Eds.), Selected proceedings of the 2007 Second Language Research Forum. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Love, T., & Swinney, D. (1996). Coreference processing and levels of analysis in object-relative constructions: Demonstration of antecedent reactivation with the cross-modal priming paradigm. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 25, 5–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McDonald, J. (2006). Beyond the critical period: Processing-based explanations for poor grammaticality judgement performance by late second language learners. Journal of Memory and Language, 55, 381–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicol, J., & Swinney, D. (1989). The role of structure in coreference assignment during sentence comprehension. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 18, 5–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nicol, J., & Swinney, D. (2003). The psycholinguistics of anaphora. In Barss, A. (Ed.), Anaphora: A reference guide. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Reinhart, T. (1981). Definite NP anaphora and c-command. Linguistic Inquiry, 12, 605–635.Google Scholar
Reinhart, T. (1983). Anaphora and semantic interpretation. London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
Roberts, L., Gullberg, M., & Indefrey, P. (2008). Online pronoun resolution in L2 discourse: L1 influence and general learner effects. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 30, 333–357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Runner, J., Sussman, R., & Tanenhaus, M. (2003). Assignment of reference to reflexives and pronouns in picture noun phrases: Evidence from eye-movements. Cognition, 89, B1–B13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Staub, A., & Rayner, K. (2007). Eye movements and online comprehension processes. In Gaskell, M. (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of psycholinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sturt, P. (2003). The time-course of the application of binding constraints in reference resolution. Journal of Memory and Language, 48, 542–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Townsend, D., & Bever, T. (2001). Sentence comprehension: The integration of habits and rules. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, L. (2003). Second language acquisition and universal grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xiang, M., Dillon, B., & Phillips, C. (2009). Illusory licensing effects across dependency types: ERP evidence. Brain & Language, 108, 40–55.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed