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The fine-tuning of linguistic expectations over the course of L2 learning

The fine-tuning of linguistic expectations over the course of L2 learning
The fine-tuning of linguistic expectations over the course of L2 learning
This study investigates the degree to which native-English speaking learners of Spanish can generate expectations for information likely to occur in upcoming portions of an unfolding linguistic signal. We examine Spanish Clitic Left Dislocation, a long-distance dependency between a topicalized object and an agreeing clitic, whose felicity depends on the discourse. Using a self-paced reading task, we tested the predictions of the Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH; Clahsen & Felser, 2006a,b) and the Reduced Ability to Generate Expectations hypothesis (RAGE; Grüter, Rohde, & Schafer, 2014). Learners successfully demonstrated sensitivity to the violation of expectations set up by the syntactic and discourse context. In addition, the behavior of the L2 learners was dependent on proficiency: the higher their proficiency, the more their behavior mirrored native speaker processing. These results support a view of SLA in which knowledge of L2 discourse-grammatical relationships is acquired slowly over the course of L2 learning.
prediction, clitic left dislocation, spanish, self-paced reading, L2 processing
0272-2631
493-525
Leal, Tania
6fe74940-5feb-46a2-992e-527486f9b6f2
Slabakova, Roumyana
1bda11ce-ce3d-4146-8ae3-4a486b6f5bde
Farmer, Thomas
155f98fc-63b8-4203-bea6-f113b42925bd
Leal, Tania
6fe74940-5feb-46a2-992e-527486f9b6f2
Slabakova, Roumyana
1bda11ce-ce3d-4146-8ae3-4a486b6f5bde
Farmer, Thomas
155f98fc-63b8-4203-bea6-f113b42925bd

Leal, Tania, Slabakova, Roumyana and Farmer, Thomas (2017) The fine-tuning of linguistic expectations over the course of L2 learning. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 39 (3), 493-525. (doi:10.1017/s0272263116000164).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This study investigates the degree to which native-English speaking learners of Spanish can generate expectations for information likely to occur in upcoming portions of an unfolding linguistic signal. We examine Spanish Clitic Left Dislocation, a long-distance dependency between a topicalized object and an agreeing clitic, whose felicity depends on the discourse. Using a self-paced reading task, we tested the predictions of the Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH; Clahsen & Felser, 2006a,b) and the Reduced Ability to Generate Expectations hypothesis (RAGE; Grüter, Rohde, & Schafer, 2014). Learners successfully demonstrated sensitivity to the violation of expectations set up by the syntactic and discourse context. In addition, the behavior of the L2 learners was dependent on proficiency: the higher their proficiency, the more their behavior mirrored native speaker processing. These results support a view of SLA in which knowledge of L2 discourse-grammatical relationships is acquired slowly over the course of L2 learning.

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2016-LSF_SSLA.pdf - Accepted Manuscript
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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 25 January 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 23 May 2016
Published date: September 2017
Keywords: prediction, clitic left dislocation, spanish, self-paced reading, L2 processing
Organisations: Faculty of Humanities

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 386897
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/386897
ISSN: 0272-2631
PURE UUID: f48f9113-ae03-45f4-a954-afc1a7b5e968
ORCID for Roumyana Slabakova: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5839-460X

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Date deposited: 05 Feb 2016 11:46
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:48

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Contributors

Author: Tania Leal
Author: Thomas Farmer

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