L2 sentence processing

In sentences like “the mouse that chased the cat was hungry”, the syntactically correct interpretation (the mouse chases the cat) is contradicted by semantic and pragmatic knowledge. Previous research has shown that L1 speakers sometimes base sentence interpretation on this type of knowledge (so-called “shallow” or “good-enough” processing). We made use of both behavioral and ERP measurements to investigate whether L2 learners differ from native speakers in the extent to which they engage in “shallow” processing. German learners of Dutch as well as Dutch native speakers read sentences containing relative clauses (as in the example above) for which the plausible thematic roles were or were not reversed, and made plausibility judgments.

For further information regarding the current research data, please contact Xiaochen Zheng ([e-mail]).