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Prediction and integration in native and second-language processing of elliptical structures*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2014

EDITH KAAN ,
JOSEPH KIRKHAM  and
FRANK WIJNEN
EDITH KAAN*
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Florida
JOSEPH KIRKHAM
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Florida
FRANK WIJNEN
Affiliation:
Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, Utrecht University
*
Address for correspondence: Edith Kaan Department of LinguisticsUniversity of FloridaBox 115454 Gainesville, FL 32611[email protected]
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Abstract

According to recent views of L2-sentence processing, L2-speakers do not predict upcoming information to the same extent as do native speakers. To investigate L2-speakers’ predictive use and integration of syntactic information across clauses, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) from advanced L2-learners and native speakers while they read sentences in which the syntactic context did or did not allow noun-ellipsis (Lau, E., Stroud, C., Plesch, S., & Phillips, C. (2006). The role of structural prediction in rapid syntactic analysis. Brain and Language, 98, 74–88.) Both native and L2-speakers were sensitive to the context when integrating words after the potential ellipsis-site. However, native, but not L2-speakers, anticipated the ellipsis, as suggested by an ERP difference between elliptical and non-elliptical contexts preceding the potential ellipsis-site. In addition, L2-learners displayed a late frontal negativity for ungrammaticalities, suggesting differences in repair strategies or resources compared with native speakers.

Keywords

second-language processingellipsispredictive processingLANlate negativity
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , January 2016 , pp. 1 - 18
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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Footnotes

*

The authors would like to thank Natalia Davidson, Chelsea Guerra, Kyriaki Neophytou and Marpessa Rietbergen for their help making materials and running participants, Ellen Lau for letting us use her stimuli, and Iris Mulders and Sjef Pieters for technical assistance at the Utrecht site. This research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF 0957178), and a visiting scholars grant from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO 040.11.367) awarded to the first author.

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