Determiner-Number Specification and Non-Local Agreement Computation in L1 and L2 Processing

Abstract

The present study employed a self-paced reading task in conjunction with concurrent acceptability judgements to examine how similar or diferent English natives and Chinese learners of English are when processing non-local agreement. We also tested how determiner-number specifcation modulates number agreement computation in both native and non-native processing by manipulating number marking with demonstrative determiners (the versus that/these). Results suggest both groups were sensitive to non-local agreement violations, indexed by longer reading times for sentences containing number violations. Furthermore, we found determiner-number specifcation facilitated processing of number violations in both native and non-native groups in an acceptability judgement task only, with stronger sensitivity to violations with demonstrative determiners than those with bare determiners. Contrary to some theories that predict qualitative diferences between native and non-native processing, we did not fnd any signifcant diferences between native and non-native speakers, despite the fact that the Chinese speakers of English had to process a novel linguistic feature absent in their native language.