Doctoral Dissertation Research: Chinese Sentence Processing by First and Second Language Speakers

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In real-time sentence processing, the human language processor draws on multiple sources of information and applies them in a rapid fashion. The time pressure of language processing requires highly efficient use of this information. Ideally, second language (L2) learners should also be able to employ all the sources of information as efficiently as first language (L1) speakers, but in reality, it is often difficult. Capitalizing on typological difference between Chinese, English, and Japanese, this dissertation research examines the extent to which L2 learners are able to use different sources of information in online sentence processing and what underlying mechanisms (e.g., L1 transfer, inadequate representation, or cognitive limitations) cause processing difficulties. This research focuses on lexical-semantic, contextual, and morphosyntactic sources of information, which are the major sources of information that the human language parser exploits in making parsing decisions. The project includes four main experiments with intermediate and advanced learners of Chinese, whose L1 is either English or Japanese, as well as native controls. Participants in each experiment complete one of two online tasks -- comprehension-focused self-paced reading or acceptability-judgment self-paced reading -- in addition to an associated offline task. This project is a pioneering study in (L2) Chinese sentence processing. Most of the current theories on L1 and L2 sentence processing have been formulated in the context of languages with inflectional morphology. As a language with virtually no inflectional morphology, Chinese plays a special role in resolving theoretical controversies about the interaction of semantics, context, and morphosyntax during sentence processing. Studying how L1 and L2 speakers process Chinese sentences will help researchers obtain a much richer picture of human sentence processing in general, and L2 sentence processing in particular.