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Access to verb bias and plausibility information during syntactic processing in adult Spanish–English bilinguals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 November 2021

Patricia Román Open the ORCID record for Patricia Román [Opens in a new window] ,
Edith Kaan  and
Paola E. Dussias
Patricia Román*
Affiliation:
Universidad Loyola Andalucía Loyola Behavioral Lab
Edith Kaan
Affiliation:
University of Florida
Paola E. Dussias
Affiliation:
The Pennsylvania State University
*
Address for correspondence: Patricia Román Universidad Loyola Andalucía Departamento de PsicologíaAvda. de las Universidades, s/nDos Hermanas, Sevilla, Spain Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

In two experiments, we examine how proficient second language speakers integrate verb bias and plausibility information during online sentence comprehension. Spanish–English speakers and native English speakers read sentences in English in which a post-verbal noun phrase (NP) could be interpreted as a direct object or a sentential subject. To examine the role of verb bias, the post-verbal NP was preceded by a verb that is preferentially followed by a direct object (DO-bias verbs) or a sentential complement (SC-bias verbs). To assess the role of plausibility, the semantic fit between the verb and the post-verbal NP was either congruent or incongruent with the direct object interpretation. The results show that both second language speakers and native speakers used verb bias information to assign a grammatical role to the post-verbal ambiguous NP with small differences. Syntactic revision of an initially incorrect DO interpretation was facilitated by the presence of an implausible NP.

Keywords

sentence comprehensionambiguity resolutionsecond language processingevent-related potentialsDO/SC ambiguityverb biasplausibilityERPsSpanish–English bilinguals
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , May 2022 , pp. 417 - 429
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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