Examining the contribution of markedness to the L2 processing of Spanish person agreement: An event-related potentials study

Abstract

We used event-related potentials to investigate how markedness impacts person agreement in English-speaking learners of L2-Spanish. Markedness was examined by probing agreement with both first-person (marked) and third-person (unmarked) subjects. Agreement was manipulated by crossing first-person subjects with third-person verbs and vice-versa. Native speakers showed a P600 for both errors, larger for “first-person subject + third-person verb” violations. This aligns with claims that, when the first element in the dependency is marked (first-person), the parser generates stronger predictions regarding upcoming agreeing elements via feature activation. Twenty-two upper-intermediate/advanced learners elicited a P600 across both errors. Learners were equally accurate detecting both errors, but the P600 was marginally reduced for “first-person subject + third-person verb” violations, suggesting that learners overused unmarked forms (third-person) online. However, this asymmetry mainly characterized lower-proficiency learners. Results suggest that markedness impacts L2 agreement without constraining it, although learners are less likely to use marked features top-down.