Electrophysiological Correlates of Second-Language Syntactic Processes Are Related to Native and Second Language Distance Regardless of Age of Acquisition.

Begoña Díaz,Itziar Laka,Jutta L Mueller,Núria Sebastián-Gallés,Robert F De Menezes,Kepa Erdocia

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00133

Abstract

In the present study, we investigate how early and late L2 learners process L2 grammatical traits that are either present or absent in their native language (L1). Thirteen early (AoA = 4 years old) and 13 late (AoA = 18 years old) Spanish learners of Basque performed a grammatical judgment task on auditory Basque sentences while their event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded. The sentences contained violations of a syntactic property specific to participants' L2, i.e., ergative case, or violations of a syntactic property present in both of the participants' languages, i.e., verb agreement. Two forms of verb agreement were tested: subject agreement, found in participants' L1 and L2, and object agreement, present only in participants' L2. Behaviorally, early bilinguals were more accurate in the judgment task than late L2 learners. Early bilinguals showed native-like ERPs for verb agreement, which differed from the late learners' ERP pattern. Nonetheless, approximation to native-likeness was greater for the subject-verb agreement processing, the type of verb-agreement present in participants' L1, compared to object-verb agreement, the type of verb-agreement present only in participants' L2. For the ergative argument alignment, unique to L2, the two non-native groups showed similar ERP patterns which did not correspond to the natives' ERP pattern. We conclude that non-native syntactic processing approximates native processing for early L2 acquisition and high proficiency levels when the syntactic property is common to the L1 and L2. However, syntactic traits that are not present in the L1 do not rely on native-like processing, despite early AoA and high proficiency.

Highlights

In a growing global world, learning a second language (L2) has become a socioeconomic need and, is a mandatory subject in most countries in the world (around 81% of the 119 countries analyzed in (UNESCO World Report: Investing in Cultural Diversity Intercultural Dialogue., 2009)
Event-related potential (ERP) studies have shown clear components indexing L1 syntactic processes and have revealed that approximation to native-like processing of an L2 syntax depends on three main factors: the age of acquisition (AoA), the proficiency achieved, and the similarity between one’s first language (L1) and the target L2
Low proficiency groups showed a very distinct event-related brain potentials (ERPs) pattern: they only showed a delayed and reduced P600 in response to both syntactic violations. These results suggested that when late L2 learners attain high proficiency in the L2, they process the L2 in a native-like fashion

Summary

Introduction

In a growing global world, learning a second language (L2) has become a socioeconomic need and, is a mandatory subject in most countries in the world (around 81% of the 119 countries analyzed in (UNESCO World Report: Investing in Cultural Diversity Intercultural Dialogue., 2009). There are three main elements for L2 learners to conquer: phonology (perception and pronunciation), semantics (the meaning of words), and syntax (the structure of the language). Syntax (along with phonology) is an especially difficult aspect for L2 learners to master, while semantics is more overcome (Johnson and Newport, 1989; Van Hell and Tokowicz, 2010). We aim to investigate how the syntactic similarity between the L1 and L2 influences L2 syntactic processing. We address this question by comparing two groups of non-native listeners that represent the two endpoints of the AoA-proficiency continuum: a typical group of late learners with average proficiency and another group of early learners with native-like proficiency

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