Animacy affects the processing of subject-object ambiguities in the second language: Evidence from self-paced reading with German second language learners of Dutch

Carrie N. Jackson; Leah Roberts

doi:10.1017/S0142716410000196

Animacy affects the processing of subject-object ambiguities in the second language: Evidence from self-paced reading with German second language learners of Dutch

Carrie N. Jackson, Leah Roberts

German and Slavic Languages and Literatures

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

The results of a self-paced reading study with German second language (L2) learners of Dutch showed that noun animacy affected the learners' on-line commitments when comprehending relative clauses in their L2. Earlier research has found that German L2 learners of Dutch do not show an on-line preference for subject-object word order in temporarily ambiguous relative clauses when no disambiguating material is available prior to the auxiliary verb. We investigated whether manipulating the animacy of the ambiguous noun phrases would push the learners to make an on-line commitment to either a subject- or object-first analysis. Results showed they performed like Dutch native speakers in that their reading times reflected an interaction between topichood and animacy in the on-line assignment of grammatical roles.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	671-691
Number of pages	21
Journal	Applied Psycholinguistics
Volume	31
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716410000196
State	Published - Oct 2010

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Language and Linguistics
Linguistics and Language
General Psychology

Access to Document

10.1017/S0142716410000196

Cite this

@article{2a603476e19a43e496ef446ff4f2898b,

title = "Animacy affects the processing of subject-object ambiguities in the second language: Evidence from self-paced reading with German second language learners of Dutch",

abstract = "The results of a self-paced reading study with German second language (L2) learners of Dutch showed that noun animacy affected the learners' on-line commitments when comprehending relative clauses in their L2. Earlier research has found that German L2 learners of Dutch do not show an on-line preference for subject-object word order in temporarily ambiguous relative clauses when no disambiguating material is available prior to the auxiliary verb. We investigated whether manipulating the animacy of the ambiguous noun phrases would push the learners to make an on-line commitment to either a subject- or object-first analysis. Results showed they performed like Dutch native speakers in that their reading times reflected an interaction between topichood and animacy in the on-line assignment of grammatical roles.",

author = "Jackson, {Carrie N.} and Leah Roberts",

note = "Funding Information: The research reported here was supported financially by the NWO, which is gratefully acknowledged. We also thank Anne Rijpma, Sonja Wichert, and Ilonka Petal for experimental preparation and data collection. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing 2008 in Cambridge, England, and at the Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference 2009 in Banff, Canada. We are grateful to the attendees of these conferences for their feedback. We also thank the two anonymous Applied Psycholinguistics reviewers for their suggestions that greatly improved this paper.",

year = "2010",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1017/S0142716410000196",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "31",

pages = "671--691",

journal = "Applied Psycholinguistics",

issn = "0142-7164",

publisher = "Cambridge University Press",

number = "4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Animacy affects the processing of subject-object ambiguities in the second language

T2 - Evidence from self-paced reading with German second language learners of Dutch

AU - Jackson, Carrie N.

AU - Roberts, Leah

N1 - Funding Information: The research reported here was supported financially by the NWO, which is gratefully acknowledged. We also thank Anne Rijpma, Sonja Wichert, and Ilonka Petal for experimental preparation and data collection. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at Architectures and Mechanisms for Language Processing 2008 in Cambridge, England, and at the Germanic Linguistics Annual Conference 2009 in Banff, Canada. We are grateful to the attendees of these conferences for their feedback. We also thank the two anonymous Applied Psycholinguistics reviewers for their suggestions that greatly improved this paper.

PY - 2010/10

Y1 - 2010/10

N2 - The results of a self-paced reading study with German second language (L2) learners of Dutch showed that noun animacy affected the learners' on-line commitments when comprehending relative clauses in their L2. Earlier research has found that German L2 learners of Dutch do not show an on-line preference for subject-object word order in temporarily ambiguous relative clauses when no disambiguating material is available prior to the auxiliary verb. We investigated whether manipulating the animacy of the ambiguous noun phrases would push the learners to make an on-line commitment to either a subject- or object-first analysis. Results showed they performed like Dutch native speakers in that their reading times reflected an interaction between topichood and animacy in the on-line assignment of grammatical roles.

AB - The results of a self-paced reading study with German second language (L2) learners of Dutch showed that noun animacy affected the learners' on-line commitments when comprehending relative clauses in their L2. Earlier research has found that German L2 learners of Dutch do not show an on-line preference for subject-object word order in temporarily ambiguous relative clauses when no disambiguating material is available prior to the auxiliary verb. We investigated whether manipulating the animacy of the ambiguous noun phrases would push the learners to make an on-line commitment to either a subject- or object-first analysis. Results showed they performed like Dutch native speakers in that their reading times reflected an interaction between topichood and animacy in the on-line assignment of grammatical roles.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77957231087&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77957231087&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1017/S0142716410000196

DO - 10.1017/S0142716410000196

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:77957231087

SN - 0142-7164

VL - 31

SP - 671

EP - 691

JO - Applied Psycholinguistics

JF - Applied Psycholinguistics

IS - 4

ER -

Animacy affects the processing of subject-object ambiguities in the second language: Evidence from self-paced reading with German second language learners of Dutch

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this