The Influence of the First Language on Syntactic Processing in a Second Language
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2015-07-17
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en
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Abstract
Despite a growing interest in second language (L2) syntactic processing, little is known about
how L2 speakers overcome direct conflicts between L1 and L2 syntactic rules. Sentence-final double infinitives in German and Dutch pose such a direct conflict since the two languages require the opposite ordering of the verbs: the two infinitives in the Dutch sentence ‘Ik heb het huiswerk niet willen maken’ (I did not want to do the homework) would be reversed in a German translation of the sentence (…machen wollen). We used ERPs to explore in how far intermediate German learners of Dutch have already managed to overcome L1 rules and show native-like processing signatures to the word order that is incorrect in Dutch, but correct in German. While grammaticality judgments to sentences with the afore-mentioned structure showed comparable error rates in L2 speakers and a Dutch native speaker control group, ERP signatures differed between the two groups. Native speakers showed a clear P600 effect for verb order violations (onset 450 ms). In L2 speakers, in contrast, the P600 effect was delayed (onset 800 ms), and was furthermore preceded by an N400-like effect (250-600 ms) and an early left negativity (100-250 ms). Interestingly, P600 and N400 effect magnitudes were negatively correlated in L2 speakers, suggesting that participants tended to show either a (delayed) P600 or an N400, rather than both. Differences in N400-P600 dominance could, however, not be explained by individual differences in, for example, L2 proficiency or working memory capacity. We conclude that despite native-like behavioral performance, structures with conflicting syntactic rules in L1 and L2 pose difficulties for learners and lead to non-native-like online processing signatures. The extent of the impact of the rule conflict in L1 and L2, however, differs for individual L2 speakers.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen