L2 Sentence Research Articles

Transferred L1 Strategies and L2 Syntactic Structure in L2 Sentence Comprehension

The Modern Language JournalVolume 77, Issue 4 p. 490-500 Transferred L1 Strategies and L2 Syntactic Structure in L2 Sentence Comprehension KEIKO KODA, Corresponding Author KEIKO KODA Department of Linguistics Ohio University Athens, OH 45701–2979E-Mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author KEIKO KODA, Corresponding Author KEIKO KODA Department of Linguistics Ohio University Athens, OH 45701–2979E-Mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author First published: Winter 1993 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1993.tb01997.xCitations: 35AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume77, Issue4Winter 1993Pages 490-500 RelatedInformation

Sentence processing by non-native speakers of English: Evidence from the perception of natural and computer-generated anomalous L2 sentences

The present study was undertaken in order to evaluate the intelligibility of semantically anomalous natural and computer-generated (synthetic) sentences presented to native and non-native listeners. Subjects included 24 German-dominant German English bilinguals and 24 English monolinguals. Detailed analyses of subjects' orthographic transcriptions of the sentences revealed that: (1) the non-native listeners made far more errors than did the native listeners in response to natural and computergenerated speech; (2) for both groups and in both listening conditions, the largest number of errors were phonemic substitutions; (3) the non-native listeners had a significantly lower percentage of morpho-syntactic errors and a significantly higher percentage of lexico-semantic errors than did the native listeners; and (4) the non-native listeners had a significantly larger number of “other” (including explicable) errors than did the native listeners. In addition, there was evidence that the non-native listeners' responses were, in part, characterized by transfer from their L1. Both a language competence account and an information-based theory of L2 sentence processing are considered in the discussion of differences between the native and non-native listeners' responses to this task.

An Interactionist Approach to L2 Sentence Interpretation

Knowledge of a second language includes knowledge of syntax, phonology, lexicon, and so forth. While there is no a priori reason to assume that abilities in these areas develop independently of one another, most studies dealing with the acquisition of L2 grammars treat each of these components singly. In fact, Long and Sato (1984) call for more studies investigating the ways in which grammatical components interact in the acquisition of a second language. This paper deals with the complex issue of sentence processing in an L2, showing how L2 learners resolve the problem of competing factors of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics in the processing of L2 utterances. We present the results of a study involving sentence interpretation of compex sentences by 111 L2 learners of English and suggest that the acquisition of syntax, semantics, and pragmatics is an interactive phenomenon. It is further suggested that part of learning the syntax of a language is not only learning the word-order configurations of the language, but also learning the importance of word order in a given language in relation to semantic and pragmatic factors.

Prosodic Information in the Resolution of Relative Clause Attachment Ambiguity in L2 Sentence Processing

Prosodic Information in the Resolution of Relative Clause Attachment Ambiguity in L2 Sentence Processing