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

在实时句子处理中，人类语言处理器利用多种信息来源，并以快速的方式应用它们。语言处理的时间压力要求高效地利用这些信息。理想情况下，第二语言（L2）学习者也应该能够像第一语言（L1）使用者一样有效地利用所有信息来源，但实际上，这通常是困难的。利用汉语、英语和日语之间的类型差异，本论文研究了第二语言学习者在在线句子加工中使用不同信息来源的程度，以及导致加工困难的潜在机制（例如，L1迁移、不充分的表征或认知限制）。本研究的重点是词汇语义来源、上下文来源和形态句法来源的信息，它们是人类语言解析器在做出解析决策时所利用的主要信息来源。该项目包括四个主要实验，对象是中级和高级汉语学习者，其母语为英语或日语，以及本地对照。每个实验的参与者都要完成两个在线任务中的一个——以理解为中心的自定节奏阅读或可接受性判断的自定节奏阅读——此外还有一个相关的离线任务。本项目是汉语（二）句加工领域的开创性研究。目前大多数关于一、二语句子加工的理论都是在具有屈折形态的语言背景下形成的。汉语作为一种几乎没有屈折形态的语言，在解决句子加工过程中语义、语境和形态句法相互作用的理论争议方面发挥着特殊的作用。研究母语和第二语言使用者是如何处理汉语句子的，将有助于研究人员更全面地了解人类的句子处理，尤其是第二语言句子的处理。

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.