Different effects of syntactic knowledge, associative memory and working memory in L2 processing of filler-gap dependencies
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Stefano Rastelli
Abstract
In the present contribution we tested how syntactic knowledge, associativelexical memory (AM) and working memory (WM) contribute to the processing of filler-gap dependencies (FGD) in 27 lower-intermediate L1 Chinese learners of L2 Italian. To test learners’ structural knowledge, pictures of a cross-modal picture priming task were presented either at structurally defined gap position or at post-gap control position. To test memory resources, we factorized separately AM and WM scores. No antecedent reactivation (structural) effect was found at gap position in reaction time analysis. Instead, a semantic-priming effect was found for high WM scores learners. Efficient L2 processing of FGD seems to correlate only with learners’ capacity of keeping the fronted element on hold as the sentence unfolds. Moreover, while AM scores correlated with our learners’ proficiency scores, WM scores did not.
Abstract
In the present contribution we tested how syntactic knowledge, associativelexical memory (AM) and working memory (WM) contribute to the processing of filler-gap dependencies (FGD) in 27 lower-intermediate L1 Chinese learners of L2 Italian. To test learners’ structural knowledge, pictures of a cross-modal picture priming task were presented either at structurally defined gap position or at post-gap control position. To test memory resources, we factorized separately AM and WM scores. No antecedent reactivation (structural) effect was found at gap position in reaction time analysis. Instead, a semantic-priming effect was found for high WM scores learners. Efficient L2 processing of FGD seems to correlate only with learners’ capacity of keeping the fronted element on hold as the sentence unfolds. Moreover, while AM scores correlated with our learners’ proficiency scores, WM scores did not.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
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Word order and related pragmatic or semantic effects
- Focus fronting and its implicatures 1
- Romance causatives and object shift 21
- Conditionally interpreted declaratives in Spanish 39
- Microparametric variation in Old ItaloRomance syntax 51
- Different effects of syntactic knowledge, associative memory and working memory in L2 processing of filler-gap dependencies 67
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Morphology and semantics of the verb and verb placement
- The paradigmatic instantiation of TAM 85
- Deriving the readings of French être en train de 103
- On the syntax of datives in unaccusative configurations 119
- The perfect between Latin and Romance 159
- Productivity and Portuguese morphology 175
- Reflexively marked anticausatives are not semantically reflexive 203
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Morphosyntax of the DP and its relation to clause structure
- Deverbal nominalization with the ‘Down’-operator 223
- The (non-)grammaticalization of possession in Guatemalan Spanish 239
- On Spanish possessive formation 261
- Language Index 277
- Subject Index 279
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction vii
-
Word order and related pragmatic or semantic effects
- Focus fronting and its implicatures 1
- Romance causatives and object shift 21
- Conditionally interpreted declaratives in Spanish 39
- Microparametric variation in Old ItaloRomance syntax 51
- Different effects of syntactic knowledge, associative memory and working memory in L2 processing of filler-gap dependencies 67
-
Morphology and semantics of the verb and verb placement
- The paradigmatic instantiation of TAM 85
- Deriving the readings of French être en train de 103
- On the syntax of datives in unaccusative configurations 119
- The perfect between Latin and Romance 159
- Productivity and Portuguese morphology 175
- Reflexively marked anticausatives are not semantically reflexive 203
-
Morphosyntax of the DP and its relation to clause structure
- Deverbal nominalization with the ‘Down’-operator 223
- The (non-)grammaticalization of possession in Guatemalan Spanish 239
- On Spanish possessive formation 261
- Language Index 277
- Subject Index 279
