Lexically-specific syntactic restrictions in second-language speakersShow others and affiliations
2024 (English)In: Journal of memory and language (Print), ISSN 0749-596X, E-ISSN 1096-0821, Vol. 134, article id 104470Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
In two structural priming experiments, we investigated the representations of lexically-specific syntactic restrictions of English verbs for highly proficient and immersed second language (L2) speakers of English. We considered the interplay of two possible mechanisms: generalization from the first language (L1) and statistical learning within the L2 (both of abstract structure and of lexically-specific information). In both experiments, L2 speakers with either Germanic or Romance languages as L1 were primed to produce dispreferred double-object structures involving non-alternating dative verbs. Priming occurred from ungrammatical double-object primes involving different non-alternating verbs (Experiment 1) and from grammatical primes involving alternating verbs (Experiment 2), supporting abstract statistical learning within the L2. However, we found no differences between L1-Germanic speakers (who have the double-object structure in their L1) and L1-Romance speakers (who do not), inconsistent with the prediction for between-group differences of the L1-generalization account. Additionally, L2 speakers in Experiment 2 showed a lexical boost: There was stronger priming after (dispreferred) non-alternating same-verb double-object primes than after (grammatical) alternating different-verb primes. Such lexically-driven persistence was also shown by L1 English speakers (Ivanova, Pickering, McLean, Costa, & Branigan, 2012) and may underlie statistical learning of lexically-dependent structural regularities. We conclude that lexically-specific syntactic restrictions in highly proficient and immersed L2 speakers are shaped by statistical learning (both abstract and lexically-specific) within the L2, but not by generalization from the L1.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Elsevier, 2024. Vol. 134, article id 104470
Keywords [en]
L2 processing, Structural priming, Syntactic restrictions, Dispreferred sentences
National Category
General Language Studies and Linguistics
Research subject
Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:ltu:diva-103158DOI: 10.1016/j.jml.2023.104470ISI: 001127203000001PubMedID: 39301181Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85178376490OAI: oai:DiVA.org:ltu-103158DiVA, id: diva2:1816430
Note
Validerad;2023;Nivå 2;2023-12-01 (joosat);
License full text: CC BY 4.0;
Funder: PPLS Research Support Grants; NICHD (R21HD109797); NSF-PAC (2021124);
2023-12-012023-12-012024-11-20Bibliographically approved