Abstract

This study investigates attachment resolution of ambiguous relative clauses (RC) by second (L2) and third (L3) language speakers of English and Russian. Participants’ sensitivity to the language of testing, social conventions, and a linguistic effect of the matrix verb (perception, non-perception) is investigated. Monolingual controls confirm the established cross-linguistic variation: high attachment in Russian and low attachment in English. Non-native speakers demonstrate a tendency to perform in the target-like manner in their non-native languages. Both native and non-native speakers favor high attachment after a perception matrix verb. Neither monolinguals nor L2/L3 learners rely on social conventions to interpret ambiguous RCs. In other words, non-native sentence comprehension appears to be sensitive to syntactic cues prompted by a perception verb in RC resolution.

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