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]).

在诸如“追逐猫咪的老鼠饿了”这类句子中，句法层面的正确解读（即老鼠追逐猫咪）与语义及语用知识相悖。过往研究表明，母语使用者（L1 speakers）有时会基于这类知识进行句子解读，即所谓的“浅层处理（shallow processing）”与“足够好处理（good-enough processing）”。本研究结合行为实验与事件相关电位（Event-Related Potential, ERP）测量技术，探究第二语言学习者（L2 learners）在“浅层处理”的参与程度上是否与母语者存在差异。实验以荷兰语母语者及母语为德语的荷兰语学习者为被试，让他们阅读包含关系从句（relative clauses）的句子（如上述示例），这类句子的合理题元角色关系要么被反转，要么未被反转，并要求被试完成合理性判断任务。若需获取本研究数据集的更多相关信息，请联系郑晓晨（Xiaochen Zheng，邮箱：[e-mail]）。