The application of syntactic parsing strategies during real-time L2 sentence comprehension: Evidence from eye-movement recordings

Year 2020, Volume: 16 Issue: 3, 1203 - 1218, 01.10.2020

Onur Uludağ

https://doi.org/10.17263/jlls.803647

Abstract

The study aims to investigate whether second language learners perform sentence processing based on syntactic or structure-based parsing strategies during real-time comprehension of constructions with syntactic ambiguities. To this end, the recordings of eye movements from Turkish learners of English and native English speakers as a control group are examined on temporarily ambiguous constructions including relative clause attachment ambiguities. The results indicate that processing decisions in first and second language are systematically driven by structure-based parsing strategies rather than being made randomly with an overreliance on semantic, pragmatic or other types of nonstructural information sources. These findings suggest that L2 learners are indeed capable of constructing and depending on abstract, hierarchically deep and detailed syntactic representations similar to those of native English speakers during the processing of sentences in real time.

Keywords

sentence processing, parsing, ambiguity resolution; eye-tracking; attachment

References

• Brysbaert, M. & Mitchell, D. C. (1996). Modifier attachment in sentence processing: Evidence from Dutch. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 49A, 664–695.
• Carreiras, M. & Clifton, C. Jr. (1999). Another word on parsing relative clauses: Eyetracking evidence from Spanish and English. Memory & Cognition, 27. 826–833.
• Clahsen, H. & Felser, C. (2006a). Grammatical processing in language learners. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27. 3–42.
• Clahsen, H. & Felser, C. (2006b). Continuity and shallow structures in language processing. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27. 107–126.
• Clahsen, H. & Felser, C. (2006c). How native-like is non-native language processing? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10. 564–570.
• Clahsen, H. & Felser, C. (2017). Some notes on the Shallow Structure Hypothesis. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 40(3). 693-706.
• Cuetos, F., Mitchell, D. C., & Corley, M. M. B. (1996). Parsing in different languages. In M. Carreiras, J. E. García-Albea, & N. Sebastián-Gallés (Eds.), Language processing in Spanish, 145-187. Hillsdale, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
• Dinctopal-Deniz, N. (2010). Relative clause attachment preferences of Turkish L2 speakers of English. In VanPatten, B. & Jegerski, J. (Eds), Research in second language processing and parsing, 27-63. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
• Dussias, P. (2003). Syntactic ambiguity resolution in L2 learners. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 25. 529–557.
• Felser, C, Marinis, T. & Clahsen, H. (2003). Children's processing of ambiguous sentences: A study of relative clause attachment. Language Acquisition 11. 127-163.
• Felser, C. & Roberts, L. (2007). Processing wh-dependencies in a second language: A cross-modal priming study. Second Language Research, 23(1). 9-36.
• Fernandez, E. (2002). Relative clause attachment in bilinguals and monolinguals. In Roberto Heredia & Jeanette Altarriba (eds.), Bilingual sentence processing, 187–215. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
• Fernandez, E. (2003). Bilingual sentence processing. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
• Fodor, J. D. (1998). Learning to parse? Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 27. 285-317.
• Frazier, L. (1979). On comprehending sentences: Syntactic parsing strategies. Storrs, CT: University of Connecticut dissertation.
• Frazier, L. & Clifton, C. Jr. (1996). Construal. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Frenck-Mestre, C. (1999). Examining second language reading: An on-line look. In Antonella Sorace, Caroline Heycock and Richard Shillcock (eds.), Language acquisition: Knowledge representation and processing, 474–478. Amsterdam: North-Holland.
• Frenck-Mestre, C. (2002). An on-line look at sentence processing in the second language. In Roberto Heredia & Jeanette Altarriba (eds.), Bilingual sentence processing, 217–236. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
• Gibson, E., Pearlmutter, N., Canseco-Gonzalez, E. & Hickok, G. (1996). Recency preference in the human sentence processing mechanism. Cognition, 59. 23-59.
• Gorrell, P. (1995). Syntax and Parsing. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Kirkici, B. (2004). The processing of relative clause attachment ambiguities in Turkish. Turkic Languages, 8, 111-121.
• Liu, R. & Nicol, J. (2010). Online processing of anaphora by advanced English learners. In Matthew T. Prior, Yukiko Watanabe and Sang-Ki Lee (eds.), Selected proceedings of the 2008 Second Language Research Forum, 150–165. Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.
• Mitchell, D. & Cuetos, F. (1991). The origins of parsing strategies. In Carlota Smith (eds.), Current Issues in Natural Language Processing, 1-12. Center for Cognitive Science, University of Austin.
• Papadopoulou, D. (2006). Cross-linguistic variation in sentence processing. Evidence from RC Attachment Preferences in Greek. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer.
• Papadopoulou, D. & Clahsen, H. (2003). Parsing strategies in L1 and L2 sentence processing. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 25. 501–528.
• Rayner, K., Kambe, G, & Duffy, S. A. (2000). The effect of clause wrap-up on eye movements during reading. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 53A. 1061-1080.
• Roberts, L. (2010). Parsing the L2 input, an overview: Investigating L2 learners’ processing of syntactic ambiguities and dependencies in real-time comprehension. Language, interaction and acquisition, 1(2). 189–205.
• VanPatten, B. & Jegerski, J. (2010). Second language processing and parsing: The issues. In Bill VanPatten and Jill Jigerski (eds.), Research in Second Language Processing and Parsing, 3-24. Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Co.
• VanPatten, B., & Williams, J. (2007). Introduction: The nature of theories. In B. VanPatten and J. Williams (Eds.), Theories in second language acquisition: An introduction, 1-16. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Witzel, J., Witzel, N. & Nicol, J. (2012). Deeper than shallow: Evidence for structure-based parsing biases in second-language sentence processing. Applied Psycholinguistics, 33, 419-456.