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The effects of linear distance and working memory on the processing of gender agreement in Spanish

  • Gregory D. Keating
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Research in Second Language Processing and Parsing
This chapter is in the book Research in Second Language Processing and Parsing

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of linear distance and working memory on native and advanced L2 Spanish speakers’ on-line sensitivity to violations of grammatical gender. Using eye-tracking, participants were tested on agreement violations on predicative adjectives located one, four, and seven words away from a controller noun. The results revealed that linear distance influenced both groups’ sensitivity to gender anomalies, albeit at different points on the linear distance continuum. Furthermore, each group’s sensitivity to gender violations emerged at different points in the eye-movement record. The reading span analysis revealed that the advanced learners’ sensitivity to gender errors during first-pass reading was moderated by individual differences in working memory. The results are discussed in light of the Shallow Structure Hypothesis (Clahsen & Felser, 2006b).

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of linear distance and working memory on native and advanced L2 Spanish speakers’ on-line sensitivity to violations of grammatical gender. Using eye-tracking, participants were tested on agreement violations on predicative adjectives located one, four, and seven words away from a controller noun. The results revealed that linear distance influenced both groups’ sensitivity to gender anomalies, albeit at different points on the linear distance continuum. Furthermore, each group’s sensitivity to gender violations emerged at different points in the eye-movement record. The reading span analysis revealed that the advanced learners’ sensitivity to gender errors during first-pass reading was moderated by individual differences in working memory. The results are discussed in light of the Shallow Structure Hypothesis (Clahsen & Felser, 2006b).

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Part I. Introduction
  5. Second language processing and parsing 3
  6. Part II. Relative clauses and wh -movement
  7. Relative clause attachment preferences of Turkish L2 speakers of English 27
  8. Evidence of syntactic constraints in the processing of wh -movement 65
  9. Constraints on L2 learners’ processing of wh-dependencies 87
  10. Part III. Gender and number
  11. The effects of linear distance and working memory on the processing of gender agreement in Spanish 113
  12. Feature assembly in early stages of L2 acquisition 135
  13. Part IV. Subjects and objects
  14. Second language processing in Japanese scrambled sentences 159
  15. Second language gap processing of Japanese scrambling under a Simpler Syntax account 177
  16. The processing of subject-object ambiguities by English and Dutch L2 learners of German 207
  17. Connections between processing, production and placement 231
  18. Part V. Phonology and lexicon
  19. The exploitation of fine phonetic detail in the processing of L2 French 259
  20. Translation ambiguity 281
  21. Part VI. Prosody and context
  22. Reading aloud in two languages 297
  23. Near-nativelike processing of contrastive focus in L2 French 321
  24. Author index 345
  25. Subject index 349
https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.53.05kea

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Preface vii
  4. Part I. Introduction
  5. Second language processing and parsing 3
  6. Part II. Relative clauses and wh -movement
  7. Relative clause attachment preferences of Turkish L2 speakers of English 27
  8. Evidence of syntactic constraints in the processing of wh -movement 65
  9. Constraints on L2 learners’ processing of wh-dependencies 87
  10. Part III. Gender and number
  11. The effects of linear distance and working memory on the processing of gender agreement in Spanish 113
  12. Feature assembly in early stages of L2 acquisition 135
  13. Part IV. Subjects and objects
  14. Second language processing in Japanese scrambled sentences 159
  15. Second language gap processing of Japanese scrambling under a Simpler Syntax account 177
  16. The processing of subject-object ambiguities by English and Dutch L2 learners of German 207
  17. Connections between processing, production and placement 231
  18. Part V. Phonology and lexicon
  19. The exploitation of fine phonetic detail in the processing of L2 French 259
  20. Translation ambiguity 281
  21. Part VI. Prosody and context
  22. Reading aloud in two languages 297
  23. Near-nativelike processing of contrastive focus in L2 French 321
  24. Author index 345
  25. Subject index 349
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