@article{PattersonEsaulovaFelser2017,
  author    = {Patterson, Clare and Esaulova, Yulia and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {The impact of focus on pronoun resolution in native and non-native sentence comprehension},
  series = {Second language research},
  volume    = {33},
  journal   = {Second language research},
  publisher = {Sage Publ.},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {0267-6583},
  doi       = {10.1177/0267658317697786},
  pages     = {403 -- 429},
  year      = {2017},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{FelserJessen2021,
  author    = {Felser, Claudia and Jessen, Anna},
  title     = {Correlative coordination and variable subject-verb agreement in German},
  series = {Languages : open access journal},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {Languages : open access journal},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {MDPI},
  address   = {Basel},
  issn      = {2226-471X},
  doi       = {10.3390/languages6020067},
  pages     = {20},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Coordinated subjects often show variable number agreement with the finite verb, but linguistic approaches to this phenomenon have rarely been informed by systematically collected data. We report the results from three experiments investigating German speakers' agreement preferences with complex subjects joined by the correlative conjunctions sowohl horizontal ellipsis als auch ('both horizontal ellipsis and'), weder horizontal ellipsis noch ('neither horizontal ellipsis nor') or entweder horizontal ellipsis oder ('either horizontal ellipsis or'). We examine to what extent conjunction type and a conjunct's relative proximity to the verb affect the acceptability and processibility of singular vs. plural agreement. Experiment 1 was an untimed acceptability rating task, Experiment 2 a timed sentence completion task, and Experiment 3 was a self-paced reading task. Taken together, our results show that number agreement with correlative coordination in German is primarily determined by a default constraint triggering plural agreement, which interacts with linear order and semantic factors. Semantic differences between conjunctions only affected speakers' agreement preferences in the absence of processing pressure but not their initial agreement computation. The combined results from our offline and online experimental measures of German speakers' agreement preferences suggest that the constraints under investigation do not only differ in their relative weighting but also in their relative timing during agreement computation.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{Felser2019,
  author    = {Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Do processing resource limitations shape heritage language grammars?},
  series = {Bilingualism : language and cognition},
  volume    = {23},
  journal   = {Bilingualism : language and cognition},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {Cambridge University Press},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {1366-7289},
  doi       = {10.1017/S1366728919000397},
  pages     = {23 -- 24},
  year      = {2019},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{LagoHuvelleFelser2018,
  author    = {Lago Huvelle, Maria Sol and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Agreement attraction in native and nonnative speakers of German},
  series = {Applied psycholinguistics : psychological and linguistic studies across languages and learners},
  volume    = {39},
  journal   = {Applied psycholinguistics : psychological and linguistic studies across languages and learners},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {Cambridge Univ. Press},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {0142-7164},
  doi       = {10.1017/S0142716417000601},
  pages     = {619 -- 647},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Second language speakers often struggle to apply grammatical constraints such as subject-verb agreement. One hypothesis for this difficulty is that it results from problems suppressing syntactically unlicensed constituents in working memory. We investigated which properties of these constituents make them more likely to elicit errors: their grammatical distance to the subject head or their linear distance to the verb. We used double modifier constructions (e.g., the smell of the stables of the farmers), where the errors of native speakers are modulated by the linguistic relationships between the nouns in the subject phrase: second plural nouns, which are syntactically and semantically closer to the subject head, elicit more errors than third plural nouns, which are linearly closer to the verb (2nd-3rd-noun asymmetry). In order to dissociate between grammatical and linear distance, we compared embedded and coordinated modifiers, which were linearly identical but differed in grammatical distance. Using an attraction paradigm, we showed that German native speakers and proficient Russian speakers of German exhibited similar attraction rates and that their errors displayed a 2nd-3rd-noun asymmetry, which was more pronounced in embedded than in coordinated constructions. We suggest that both native and second language learners prioritize linguistic structure over linear distance in their agreement computations.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ArslanGuerFelser2017,
  author    = {Arslan, Se{\c{c}}kin and G{\"u}r, Eren and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Predicting the sources of impaired wh-question comprehension in non-fluent aphasia},
  series = {Cognitive neuropsychology},
  volume    = {34},
  journal   = {Cognitive neuropsychology},
  publisher = {Taylor \& Francis},
  address   = {Abingdon},
  issn      = {0264-3294},
  doi       = {10.1080/02643294.2017.1394284},
  pages     = {312 -- 331},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {This study investigates the comprehension of wh-questions in individuals with aphasia (IWA) speaking Turkish, a non-wh-movement language, and German, a wh-movement language. We examined six German-speaking and 11 Turkish-speaking IWA using picture-pointing tasks. Findings from our experiments show that the Turkish IWA responded more accurately to both object who and object which questions than to subject questions, while the German IWA performed better for subject which questions than in all other conditions. Using random forest models, a machine learning technique used in tree-structured classification, on the individual data revealed that both the Turkish and German IWA's response accuracy is largely predicted by the presence of overt and unambiguous case marking. We discuss our results with regard to different theoretical approaches to the comprehension of wh-questions in aphasia.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ReifegersteFelser2017,
  author    = {Reifegerste, Jana and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Effects of Aging on Interference During Pronoun Resolution},
  series = {Journal of speech, language, and hearing research},
  volume    = {60},
  journal   = {Journal of speech, language, and hearing research},
  publisher = {American Speech-Language-Hearing Assoc.},
  address   = {Rockville},
  issn      = {1092-4388},
  doi       = {10.1044/2017_JSLHR-L-17-0183},
  pages     = {3573 -- 3589},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of healthy aging on the ability to suppress grammatically illicit antecedents during pronoun resolution. Method: In 2 reading-based acceptability-judgment experiments, younger and older speakers of German read sentences containing an object pronoun and 2 potential antecedent noun phrases, only 1 of which was a grammatically licit antecedent. Using a gender-mismatch paradigm, we compared to what extent younger and older speakers were sensitive to feature (mis)matches between the pronoun and either of the 2 antecedents. All participants were fluent readers of German and had finished at least secondary education. Results: Experiment 1 used a self-paced reading paradigm. Older speakers showed greater sensitivity than younger ones to mismatching licit antecedents, but no group showed any evidence of interference from an intervening competitor antecedent. In Experiment 2, we increased the processing demand by using paced word-by-word stimulus presentation and longer sentences. Here, older participants showed reduced sensitivity, in comparison with younger people, to mismatching licit antecedents. Unlike our younger participants, they showed signs of distraction by the presence of a linearly closer but grammatically inappropriate antecedent when no appropriate antecedent was available.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ReifegersteHauerFelser2017,
  author    = {Reifegerste, Jana and Hauer, Franziska and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Agreement processing and attraction errors in aging},
  series = {Aging, neuropsychology, and cognition : a journal on normal and dysfunctional development},
  volume    = {24},
  journal   = {Aging, neuropsychology, and cognition : a journal on normal and dysfunctional development},
  number    = {6},
  publisher = {Taylor \& Francis Group},
  address   = {Abingdon},
  issn      = {1382-5585},
  doi       = {10.1080/13825585.2016.1251550},
  pages     = {672 -- 702},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Effects of aging on lexical processing are well attested, but the picture is less clear for grammatical processing. Where age differences emerge, these are usually ascribed to working-memory (WM) decline. Previous studies on the influence of WM on agreement computation have yielded inconclusive results, and work on aging and subject-verb agreement processing is lacking. In two experiments (Experiment 1: timed grammaticality judgment, Experiment 2: self-paced reading + WM test), we investigated older (OA) and younger (YA) adults' susceptibility to agreement attraction errors. We found longer reading latencies and judgment reaction times (RTs) for OAs. Further, OAs, particularly those with low WM scores, were more accepting of sentences with attraction errors than YAs. OAs showed longer reading latencies for ungrammatical sentences, again modulated by WM, than YAs. Our results indicate that OAs have greater difficulty blocking intervening nouns from interfering with the computation of agreement dependencies. WM can modulate this effect.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{FelserDrummer2022,
  author    = {Felser, Claudia and Drummer, Janna-Deborah},
  title     = {Binding out of relative clauses in native and non-native sentence comprehension},
  series = {Journal of psycholinguistic research},
  volume    = {51},
  journal   = {Journal of psycholinguistic research},
  number    = {4},
  publisher = {Springer},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {0090-6905},
  doi       = {10.1007/s10936-022-09845-z},
  pages     = {763 -- 788},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Pronouns can sometimes covary with a non c-commanding quantifier phrase (QP). To obtain such 'telescoping' readings, a semantic representation must be computed in which the QP's semantic scope extends beyond its surface scope. Non-native speakers have been claimed to have more difficulty than native speakers deriving such non-isomorphic syntax-semantics mappings, but evidence from processing studies is scarce. We report the results from an eye-movement monitoring experiment and an offline questionnaire investigating whether native and non-native speakers of German can link personal pronouns to non c-commanding QPs inside relative clauses. Our results show that both participant groups were able to obtain telescoping readings offline, but only the native speakers showed evidence of forming telescoping dependencies during incremental parsing. During processing the non-native speakers focused on a discourse-prominent, non-quantified alternative antecedent instead. The observed group differences indicate that non-native comprehenders have more difficulty than native comprehenders computing scope-shifted representations in real time.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{Felser2019,
  author    = {Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Do processing resource limitations shape heritage language grammars?},
  series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  journal   = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  number    = {676},
  issn      = {1866-8364},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-46970},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-469703},
  pages     = {23 -- 24},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {kein abstract vorhanden},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{FelserPhillipsWagers2017,
  author    = {Felser, Claudia and Phillips, Colin and Wagers, Matthew},
  title     = {Editorial: Encoding and Navigating Linguistic Representations in Memory},
  series = {Frontiers in psychology},
  volume    = {8},
  journal   = {Frontiers in psychology},
  publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation},
  address   = {Lausanne},
  issn      = {1664-1078},
  doi       = {10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00164},
  pages     = {6},
  year      = {2017},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{JessenFestmanBoxelletal.2017,
  author    = {Jessen, Anna and Festman, Julia and Boxell, Oliver and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Native and non-native speakers' brain responses to filled indirect Object Gaps},
  series = {Journal of Psycholinguistic Research},
  volume    = {46},
  journal   = {Journal of Psycholinguistic Research},
  publisher = {Springer},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {0090-6905},
  doi       = {10.1007/s10936-017-9496-9},
  pages     = {1319 -- 1338},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {We examined native and non-native English speakers' processing of indirect object wh-dependencies using a filled-gap paradigm while recording event-related potentials (ERPs). The non-native group was comprised of native German-speaking, proficient non-native speakers of English. Both participant groups showed evidence of linking fronted indirect objects to the subcategorizing verb when this was encountered, reflected in an N400 component. Evidence for continued filler activation beyond the verb was seen only in the non-native group, in the shape of a prolonged left-anterior negativity. Both participant groups showed sensitivity to filled indirect object gaps reflected in a P600 response, which was more pronounced and more globally distributed in our non-native group. Taken together, our results indicate that resolving indirect object dependencies is a two-step process in both native and non-native sentence comprehension, with greater processing cost incurred in non-native compared to native comprehension.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{DrummerFelser2018,
  author    = {Drummer, Janna-Deborah and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Cataphoric pronoun resolution in native and non-native sentence comprehension},
  series = {Journal of memory and language},
  volume    = {101},
  journal   = {Journal of memory and language},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {San Diego},
  issn      = {0749-596X},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jml.2018.04.001},
  pages     = {97 -- 113},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {Encountering a cataphoric pronoun triggers a search for a suitable referent. Previous research indicates that this search is constrained by binding Condition C, which prohibits coreference between a cataphoric pronoun and a referential expression within its c-command domain. We report the results from a series of eye-movement monitoring and questionnaire experiments investigating cataphoric pronoun resolution in German. Given earlier findings suggesting that the application of structure-sensitive constraints on reference resolution may be delayed in non-native language processing, we tested both native and proficient non-native speakers of German. Our results show that cataphoric pronouns trigger an active search in both native and non-native comprehenders. Whilst both participant groups demonstrated awareness of Condition C in an offline task, we found Condition C effects to be restricted to later processing measures during online reading. This indicates that during natural reading, Condition C applies as a relatively late filter on potential coreference assignments.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{ClahsenFelser2017,
  author    = {Clahsen, Harald and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Some notes on the shallow structure hypothesis},
  series = {Studies in second language acquisition},
  volume    = {40},
  journal   = {Studies in second language acquisition},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {Cambridge University Press},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {0272-2631},
  doi       = {10.1017/S0272263117000250},
  pages     = {693 -- 706},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Since the Shallow Structure Hypothesis (SSH) was first put forward in 2006, it has inspired a growing body of research on grammatical processing in nonnative (L2) speakers. More than 10 years later, we think it is time for the SSH to be reconsidered in the light of new empirical findings and current theoretical assumptions about human language processing. The purpose of our critical commentary is twofold: to clarify some issues regarding the SSH and to sketch possible ways in which this hypothesis might be refined and improved to better account for L1 and L2 speakers' performance patterns.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PattersonFelser2019,
  author    = {Patterson, Clare and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Delayed Application of Binding Condition C During Cataphoric Pronoun Resolution},
  series = {Journal of Psycholinguistic Research},
  volume    = {48},
  journal   = {Journal of Psycholinguistic Research},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {Springer},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {0090-6905},
  doi       = {10.1007/s10936-018-9613-4},
  pages     = {453 -- 475},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Previous research has shown that during cataphoric pronoun resolution, the predictive search for an antecedent is restricted by a structure-sensitive constraint known as 'Condition C', such that an antecedent is only considered when the constraint does not apply. Evidence has mainly come from self-paced reading (SPR), a method which may not be able to pick up on short-lived effects over the timecourse of processing. This study investigates whether or not the active search mechanism is constrained by Condition C at all points in time during cataphoric processing. We carried out one eye-tracking during reading and a parallel SPR experiment, accompanied by offline coreference judgment tasks. Although offline judgments about coreference were constrained by Condition C, the eye-tracking experiment revealed temporary consideration of antecedents that should be ruled out by Condition C. The SPR experiment using exactly the same materials indicated, conversely, that only structurally appropriate antecedents were considered. Taken together, our results suggest that the application of Condition C may be delayed during naturalistic reading.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{JessenFelser2018,
  author    = {Jessen, Anna and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Reanalysing object gaps during non-native sentence processing},
  series = {Second language research},
  volume    = {35},
  journal   = {Second language research},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {Sage Publ.},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {0267-6583},
  doi       = {10.1177/0267658317753030},
  pages     = {285 -- 299},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {The present study used event related potentials (ERPs) to investigate how native (L1) German-speaking second-language (L2) learners of English process sentences containing filler-gap dependencies such as Bill liked the house (women) that Bob built some ornaments for __ at his workplace. Using an experimental design which allowed us to dissociate filler integration from reanalysis effects, we found that fillers which were implausible as direct objects of the embedded verb (e.g. built the women) elicited similar brain responses (an N400) in L1 and L2 speakers when the verb was encountered. This confirms findings from behavioral and eye-movement studies indicating that both L1 and L2 speakers immediately try to integrate a filler with a potential lexical licensor. L1/L2 differences were observed when subsequent sentence material signaled that the direct-object analysis was in fact incorrect, however. We found reanalysis effects, in the shape of a P600 for sentences containing fillers that were plausible direct objects only for L2 speakers, but not for the L1 group. This supports previous findings suggesting that L2 comprehenders recover from an initially plausible first analysis less easily than L1 speakers.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ArslanFelser2017,
  author    = {Arslan, Seckin and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Comprehension of wh-questions in Turkish-German bilinguals with aphasia},
  series = {Clinical linguistics \& phonetics},
  volume    = {32},
  journal   = {Clinical linguistics \& phonetics},
  number    = {7},
  publisher = {Taylor \& Francis Group},
  address   = {Philadelphia},
  issn      = {0269-9206},
  doi       = {10.1080/02699206.2017.1416493},
  pages     = {640 -- 660},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {The aim of our study was to examine the extent to which linguistic approaches to sentence comprehension deficits in aphasia can account for differential impairment patterns in the comprehension of wh-questions in bilingual persons with aphasia (PWA). We investigated the comprehension of subject and object wh-questions in both Turkish, a wh-in-situ language, and German, a wh-fronting language, in two bilingual PWA using a sentence-to-picture matching task. Both PWA showed differential impairment patterns in their two languages. SK, an early bilingual PWA, had particular difficulty comprehending subject which-questions in Turkish but performed normal across all conditions in German. CT, a late bilingual PWA, performed more poorly for object which-questions in German than in all other conditions, whilst in Turkish his accuracy was at chance level across all conditions. We conclude that the observed patterns of selective cross-linguistic impairments cannot solely be attributed either to difficulty with wh-movement or to problems with the integration of discourse-level information. Instead our results suggest that differences between our PWA's individual bilingualism profiles (e.g. onset of bilingualism, premorbid language dominance) considerably affected the nature and extent of their impairments.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{LagoHuvelleGracaninYuksekSafaketal.2018,
  author    = {Lago Huvelle, Maria Sol and Gracanin-Yuksek, Martina and Safak, Duygu Fatma and Demir, Orhan and Kirkici, Bilal and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Straight from the horse's mouth Agreement attraction effects with Turkish possessors},
  series = {Linguistic approaches to bilingualism},
  volume    = {9},
  journal   = {Linguistic approaches to bilingualism},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {John Benjamins Publishing Co.},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {1879-9264},
  doi       = {10.1075/lab.17019.lag},
  pages     = {398 -- 426},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {We investigated the comprehension of subject-verb agreement in Turkish-German bilinguals using two tasks. The first task elicited speeded judgments to verb number violations in sentences that contained plural genitive modifiers. We addressed whether these modifiers elicited attraction errors, which have supported the use of a memory retrieval mechanism in monolingual comprehension studies. The second task examined the comprehension of a language-specific constraint of Turkish against plural-marked verbs with overt plural subjects. Bilinguals showed a reduced application of this constraint, as compared to Turkish monolinguals. Critically, both groups showed similar rates of attraction, but the bilingual group accepted ungrammatical sentences more often. We propose that the similarity in attraction rates supports the use of the same retrieval mechanism, but that bilinguals have more problems than monolinguals in the mapping of morphological to abstract agreement features during speeded comprehension, which results in increased acceptability of ungrammatical sentences.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{FelserDrummer2016,
  author    = {Felser, Claudia and Drummer, Janna-Deborah},
  title     = {Sensitivity to Crossover Constraints During Native and Non-native Pronoun Resolution},
  series = {Journal of psycholinguistic research},
  volume    = {46},
  journal   = {Journal of psycholinguistic research},
  publisher = {Springer},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {0090-6905},
  doi       = {10.1007/s10936-016-9465-8},
  pages     = {771 -- 789},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {We report the results from two experiments examining native and non-native German speakers' sensitivity to crossover constraints on pronoun resolution. Our critical stimuli sentences contained personal pronouns in either strong (SCO) or weak crossover (WCO) configurations. Using eye-movement monitoring during reading and a gender-mismatch paradigm, Experiment 1 investigated whether a fronted wh-phrase would be considered as a potential antecedent for a pronoun intervening between the wh-phrase and its canonical position. Both native and non-native readers initially attempted coreference in WCO but not in SCO configurations, as evidenced by early gender-mismatch effects in our WCO conditions. Experiment 2 was an offline antecedent judgement task whose results mirrored the SCO/WCO asymmetry observed in our reading-time data. Taken together, our results show that the SCO constraint immediately restricts pronoun interpretation in both native and non-native comprehension, and further suggest that SCO and WCO constraints derive from different sources.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BoxellFelserCunnings2017,
  author    = {Boxell, Oliver and Felser, Claudia and Cunnings, Ian},
  title     = {Antecedent contained deletions in native and non-native sentence processing},
  series = {Linguistic approaches to bilingualism},
  volume    = {7},
  journal   = {Linguistic approaches to bilingualism},
  number    = {5},
  publisher = {John Benjamins Publishing Co.},
  address   = {Amsterdam},
  issn      = {1879-9264},
  doi       = {10.1075/lab.15006.box},
  pages     = {554 -- 582},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {We report the results from an eye-movement monitoring study investigating native (L1) and non-native (L2) speakers' real-time processing of antecedent-contained deletion (ACD), a type of verb phrase ellipsis in which the ellipsis gap forms part of its own antecedent. The resulting interpretation problem is traditionally thought to be solved by quantifier raising, a covert scope-shifting operation that serves to remove the gap from within its antecedent. Our L2 group comprised advanced, native German-speaking L2 learners of English. The analysis of the eye-movement data showed that both L1 and L2 English speakers tried to recover the missing verb phrase after encountering the gap. Only the native speakers showed evidence of ellipsis resolution being affected by quantification, however. No effects of quantification following gap detection were found in the L2 group, by contrast, indicating that recovery of the elided material was accomplished independently from the object's quantificational status in this group.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BoschDeCesareDemskeetal.2021,
  author    = {Bosch, Sina and De Cesare, Ilaria and Demske, Ulrike and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {New empirical approaches to grammatical variation and change},
  series = {Languages : open access journal},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {Languages : open access journal},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {MDPI},
  address   = {Basel},
  issn      = {2226-471X},
  doi       = {10.3390/languages6030113},
  pages     = {3},
  year      = {2021},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{CunningsPattersonFelser2015,
  author    = {Cunnings, Ian and Patterson, Clare and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Structural constraints on pronoun binding and coreference: evidence from eye movements during reading},
  series = {Frontiers in psychology},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {Frontiers in psychology},
  publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation},
  address   = {Lausanne},
  issn      = {1664-1078},
  doi       = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00840},
  pages     = {18},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {A number of recent studies have investigated how syntactic and non-syntactic constraints combine to cue memory retrieval during anaphora resolution. In this paper we investigate how syntactic constraints and gender congruence interact to guide memory retrieval during the resolution of subject pronouns. Subject pronouns are always technically ambiguous, and the application of syntactic constraints on their interpretation depends on properties of the antecedent that is to be retrieved. While pronouns can freely corefer with non-quantified referential antecedents, linking a pronoun to a quantified antecedent is only possible in certain syntactic configurations via variable binding. We report the results from a judgment task and three online reading comprehension experiments investigating pronoun resolution with quantified and non-quantified antecedents. Results from both the judgment task and participants' eye movements during reading indicate that comprehenders freely allow pronouns to corefer with non-quantified antecedents, but that retrieval of quantified antecedents is restricted to specific syntactic environments. We interpret our findings as indicating that syntactic constraints constitute highly weighted cues to memory retrieval during anaphora resolution.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{CunningsPattersonFelser2014,
  author    = {Cunnings, Ian and Patterson, Clare and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Variable binding and coreference in sentence comprehension: Evidence from eye movements},
  series = {Journal of memory and language},
  volume    = {71},
  journal   = {Journal of memory and language},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {San Diego},
  issn      = {0749-596X},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jml.2013.10.001},
  pages     = {39 -- 56},
  year      = {2014},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PattersonTrompeltFelser2014,
  author    = {Patterson, Clare and Trompelt, Helena and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {The online application of binding condition B in native and non-native pronoun resolution},
  series = {Frontiers in psychology},
  volume    = {5},
  journal   = {Frontiers in psychology},
  publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation},
  address   = {Lausanne},
  issn      = {1664-1078},
  doi       = {10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00147},
  pages     = {16},
  year      = {2014},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PanSchimkeFelser2015,
  author    = {Pan, Hui-Yu and Schimke, Sarah and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Referential context effects in non-native relative clause ambiguity resolution},
  series = {International journal of bilingualism : cross-disciplinary, cross-linguistic studies of language behavior},
  volume    = {19},
  journal   = {International journal of bilingualism : cross-disciplinary, cross-linguistic studies of language behavior},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {Sage Publ.},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {1367-0069},
  doi       = {10.1177/1367006913515769},
  pages     = {298 -- 313},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {We report the results from two experiments investigating how referential context information affects native and non-native readers' interpretation of ambiguous relative clauses in sentences such as The journalist interviewed the assistant of the inspector who was looking very serious. The preceding discourse context was manipulated such that it provided two potential referents for either the first (the assistant) or the second (the inspector) of the two noun phrases that could potentially host the relative clause, thus biasing towards either an NP1 or an NP2 modification reading. The results from an offline comprehension task indicate that both native English speakers' and German and Chinese-speaking ESL learners' ultimate interpretation preferences were reliably influenced by the type of referential context. In contrast, in a corresponding self-paced-reading task we found that referential context information modulated only the non-native participants' disambiguation preferences but not the native speakers'. Our results corroborate and extend previous findings suggesting that non-native comprehenders' initial analysis of structurally ambiguous input is strongly influenced by biasing discourse information.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{RadfordFelserBoxell2012,
  author    = {Radford, Andrew and Felser, Claudia and Boxell, Oliver},
  title     = {Preposition copying and pruning in present-day English},
  series = {English language and linguistics},
  volume    = {16},
  journal   = {English language and linguistics},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {Cambridge Univ. Press},
  address   = {Cambridge},
  issn      = {1360-6743},
  doi       = {10.1017/S1360674312000172},
  pages     = {403 -- 426},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {This article investigates the nature of preposition copying and preposition pruning structures in present-day English. We begin by illustrating the two phenomena and consider how they might be accounted for in syntactic terms, and go on to explore the possibility that preposition copying and pruning arise for processing reasons. We then report on two acceptability judgement experiments examining the extent to which native speakers of English are sensitive to these types of 'error' in language comprehension. Our results indicate that preposition copying creates redundancy rather than ungrammaticality, whereas preposition pruning creates processing problems for comprehenders that may render it unacceptable in timed (but not necessarily in untimed) judgement tasks. Our findings furthermore illustrate the usefulness of combining corpus studies and experimentally elicited data for gaining a clearer picture of usage and acceptability, and the potential benefits of examining syntactic phenomena from both a theoretical and a processing perspective.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ArslanBastiaanseFelser2015,
  author    = {Arslan, Se{\c{c}}kin and Bastiaanse, Roelien and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Looking at the evidence in visual world: eye-movements reveal how bilingual and monolingual Turkish speakers process grammatical evidentiality},
  series = {Frontiers in psychology},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {Frontiers in psychology},
  publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation},
  address   = {Lausanne},
  issn      = {1664-1078},
  doi       = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01387},
  pages     = {13},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {This study presents pioneering data on how adult early bilinguals (heritage speakers) and late bilingual speakers of Turkish and German process grammatical evidentiality in a visual world setting in comparison to monolingual speakers of Turkish. Turkish marks evidentiality, the linguistic reference to information source, through inflectional affixes signaling either direct (-DI) or indirect (-mls) evidentiality. We conducted an eyetracking-during-listening experiment where participants were given access to visual 'evidence' supporting the use of either a direct or indirect evidential form. The behavioral results indicate that the monolingual Turkish speakers comprehended direct and indirect evidential scenarios equally well. In contrast, both late and early bilinguals were less accurate and slower to respond to direct than to indirect evidentials. The behavioral results were also reflected in the proportions of looks data. That is, both late and early bilinguals fixated less frequently on the target picture in the direct than in the indirect evidential condition while the monolinguals showed no difference between these conditions. Taken together, our results indicate reduced sensitivity to the semantic and pragmatic function of direct evidential forms in both late and early bilingual speakers, suggesting a simplification of the Turkish evidentiality system in Turkish heritage grammars. We discuss our findings with regard to theories of incomplete acquisition and first language attrition.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{vandeKootSilvaFelseretal.2015,
  author    = {van de Koot, Hans and Silva, Renita and Felser, Claudia and Sato, Mikako},
  title     = {Does Dutch a-scrambling involve movement? Evidence from antecedent priming},
  series = {The linguistic review},
  volume    = {32},
  journal   = {The linguistic review},
  number    = {4},
  publisher = {De Gruyter Mouton},
  address   = {Berlin},
  issn      = {0167-6318},
  doi       = {10.1515/tlr-2015-0010},
  pages     = {739 -- 776},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {The present study focuses on A-scrambling in Dutch, a local word-order alternation that typically signals the discourse-anaphoric status of the scrambled constituent. We use cross-modal priming to investigate whether an A-scrambled direct object gives rise to antecedent reactivation effects in the position where a movement theory would postulate a trace. Our results indicate that this is not the case, thereby providing support for a base-generation analysis of A-scrambling in Dutch.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{ArslanGuerFelser2017,
  author    = {Arslan, Se{\c{c}}kin and G{\"u}r, Eren and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Predicting the sources of impaired wh-question comprehension in non-fluent aphasia},
  series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  journal   = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  number    = {464},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-412717},
  pages     = {21},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {This study investigates the comprehension of wh-questions in individuals with aphasia (IWA) speaking Turkish, a non-wh-movement language, and German, a wh-movement language. We examined six German-speaking and 11 Turkish-speaking IWA using picture-pointing tasks. Findings from our experiments show that the Turkish IWA responded more accurately to both object who and object which questions than to subject questions, while the German IWA performed better for subject which questions than in all other conditions. Using random forest models, a machine learning technique used in tree-structured classification, on the individual data revealed that both the Turkish and German IWA's response accuracy is largely predicted by the presence of overt and unambiguous case marking. We discuss our results with regard to different theoretical approaches to the comprehension of wh-questions in aphasia.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{ArslanBastiaanseFelser2015,
  author    = {Arslan, Se{\c{c}}kin and Bastiaanse, Roelien and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Looking at the evidence in visual world},
  series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  journal   = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  number    = {408},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-406307},
  pages     = {13},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {This study presents pioneering data on how adult early bilinguals (heritage speakers) and late bilingual speakers of Turkish and German process grammatical evidentiality in a visual world setting in comparison to monolingual speakers of Turkish. Turkish marks evidentiality, the linguistic reference to information source, through inflectional affixes signaling either direct (-DI) or indirect (-mls) evidentiality. We conducted an eyetracking-during-listening experiment where participants were given access to visual 'evidence' supporting the use of either a direct or indirect evidential form. The behavioral results indicate that the monolingual Turkish speakers comprehended direct and indirect evidential scenarios equally well. In contrast, both late and early bilinguals were less accurate and slower to respond to direct than to indirect evidentials. The behavioral results were also reflected in the proportions of looks data. That is, both late and early bilinguals fixated less frequently on the target picture in the direct than in the indirect evidential condition while the monolinguals showed no difference between these conditions. Taken together, our results indicate reduced sensitivity to the semantic and pragmatic function of direct evidential forms in both late and early bilingual speakers, suggesting a simplification of the Turkish evidentiality system in Turkish heritage grammars. We discuss our findings with regard to theories of incomplete acquisition and first language attrition.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{JacobFelser2016,
  author    = {Jacob, Gunnar and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Reanalysis and semantic persistence in native and non-native garden-path recovery},
  series = {The quarterly journal of experimental psychology},
  volume    = {69},
  journal   = {The quarterly journal of experimental psychology},
  publisher = {Nature Publ. Group},
  address   = {Abingdon},
  issn      = {1747-0218},
  doi       = {10.1080/17470218.2014.984231},
  pages     = {907 -- 925},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {We report the results from an eye-movement monitoring study investigating how native and non-native speakers of English process temporarily ambiguous sentences such as While the gentleman was eating the burgers were still being reheated in the microwave, in which an initially plausible direct-object analysis is first ruled out by a syntactic disambiguation (were) and also later on by semantic information (being reheated). Both participant groups showed garden-path effects at the syntactic disambiguation, with native speakers showing significantly stronger effects of ambiguity than non-native speakers in later eye-movement measures but equally strong effects in first-pass reading times. Ambiguity effects at the semantic disambiguation and in participants' end-of-trial responses revealed that for both participant groups, the incorrect direct-object analysis was frequently maintained beyond the syntactic disambiguation. The non-native group showed weaker reanalysis effects at the syntactic disambiguation and was more likely to misinterpret the experimental sentences than the native group. Our results suggest that native language (L1) and non-native language (L2) parsing are similar with regard to sensitivity to syntactic and semantic error signals, but different with regard to processes of reanalysis.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{FelserPattersonCunnings2015,
  author    = {Felser, Claudia and Patterson, Clare and Cunnings, Ian},
  title     = {Structural constraints on pronoun binding and coreference: Evidence from eye movements during reading},
  series = {Frontiers in psychology},
  volume    = {6},
  journal   = {Frontiers in psychology},
  number    = {840},
  publisher = {Frontiers Research Foundation},
  address   = {Lausanne},
  issn      = {1664-1078},
  doi       = {10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00840},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {A number of recent studies have investigated how syntactic and non-syntactic constraints combine to cue memory retrieval during anaphora resolution. In this paper we investigate how syntactic constraints and gender congruence interact to guide memory retrieval during the resolution of subject pronouns. Subject pronouns are always technically ambiguous, and the application of syntactic constraints on their interpretation depends on properties of the antecedent that is to be retrieved. While pronouns can freely corefer with non-quantified referential antecedents, linking a pronoun to a quantified antecedent is only possible in certain syntactic configurations via variable binding. We report the results from a judgment task and three online reading comprehension experiments investigating pronoun resolution with quantified and non-quantified antecedents. Results from both the judgment task and participants' eye movements during reading indicate that comprehenders freely allow pronouns to corefer with non-quantified antecedents, but that retrieval of quantified antecedents is restricted to specific syntactic environments. We interpret our findings as indicating that syntactic constraints constitute highly weighted cues to memory retrieval during anaphora resolution.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{FelserPattersonCunnings2015,
  author    = {Felser, Claudia and Patterson, Clare and Cunnings, Ian},
  title     = {Structural constraints on pronoun binding and coreference: Evidence from eye movements during reading},
  series = {Frontiers in psychology},
  journal   = {Frontiers in psychology},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-78650},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {A number of recent studies have investigated how syntactic and non-syntactic constraints combine to cue memory retrieval during anaphora resolution. In this paper we investigate how syntactic constraints and gender congruence interact to guide memory retrieval during the resolution of subject pronouns. Subject pronouns are always technically ambiguous, and the application of syntactic constraints on their interpretation depends on properties of the antecedent that is to be retrieved. While pronouns can freely corefer with non-quantified referential antecedents, linking a pronoun to a quantified antecedent is only possible in certain syntactic configurations via variable binding. We report the results from a judgment task and three online reading comprehension experiments investigating pronoun resolution with quantified and non-quantified antecedents. Results from both the judgment task and participants' eye movements during reading indicate that comprehenders freely allow pronouns to corefer with non-quantified antecedents, but that retrieval of quantified antecedents is restricted to specific syntactic environments. We interpret our findings as indicating that syntactic constraints constitute highly weighted cues to memory retrieval during anaphora resolution.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{vandeKootSilvaFelseretal.,
  author    = {van de Koot, Hans and Silva, Renita and Felser, Claudia and Sato, Mikako},
  title     = {Does Dutch a-scrambling involve movement?},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-398566},
  pages     = {38},
  abstract  = {The present study focuses on A-scrambling in Dutch, a local word-order alternation that typically signals the discourse-anaphoric status of the scrambled constituent. We use cross-modal priming to investigate whether an A-scrambled direct object gives rise to antecedent reactivation effects in the position where a movement theory would postulate a trace. Our results indicate that this is not the case, thereby providing support for a base-generation analysis of A-scrambling in Dutch.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{ArslanFelser2017,
  author    = {Arslan, Se{\c{c}}kin and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Comprehension of wh-questions in Turkish-German bilinguals with aphasia},
  series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  journal   = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  number    = {462},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-412813},
  pages     = {22},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {The aim of our study was to examine the extent to which linguistic approaches to sentence comprehension deficits in aphasia can account for differential impairment patterns in the comprehension of wh-questions in bilingual persons with aphasia (PWA). We investi- gated the comprehension of subject and object wh-questions in both Turkish, a wh-in-situ language, and German, a wh-fronting language, in two bilingual PWA using a sentence-to-picture matching task. Both PWA showed differential impairment patterns in their two languages. SK, an early bilingual PWA, had particular difficulty comprehending subject which-questions in Turkish but performed normal across all conditions in German. CT, a late bilingual PWA, performed more poorly for object which-questions in German than in all other condi- tions, whilst in Turkish his accuracy was at chance level across all conditions. We conclude that the observed patterns of selective cross-linguistic impairments cannot solely be attributed either to difficulty with wh-movement or to problems with the integration of discourse-level information. Instead our results suggest that differ- ences between our PWA's individual bilingualism profiles (e.g. onset of bilingualism, premorbid language dominance) considerably affected the nature and extent of their impairments.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{GerthOttoFelseretal.2017,
  author    = {Gerth, Sabrina and Otto, Constanze and Felser, Claudia and Nam, Yunju},
  title     = {Strength of garden-path effects in native and non-native speakers' processing of object-subject ambiguities},
  series = {International journal of bilingualism : cross-disciplinary, cross-linguistic studies of language behavior},
  volume    = {21},
  journal   = {International journal of bilingualism : cross-disciplinary, cross-linguistic studies of language behavior},
  publisher = {Sage Publ.},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {1367-0069},
  doi       = {10.1177/1367006915604401},
  pages     = {125 -- 144},
  year      = {2017},
  abstract  = {Aims and objectives: Our study addresses the following research questions: To what extent is L2 comprehenders' online sensitivity to morphosyntactic disambiguation cues affected by L1 background? Does noticing the error signal trigger successful reanalysis in both L1 and L2 comprehension? Can previous findings suggesting that case is a better reanalysis cue than agreement be replicated and extended to L2 processing when using closely matched materials? Design/methodology/approach: We carried out a self-paced reading study using temporarily ambiguous object-initial sentences in German. These were disambiguated either by number marking on the verb or by nominative case marking on the subject. End-of-trial comprehension questions probed whether or not our participants ultimately succeeded in computing the correct interpretation. Data and analysis: We tested a total of 121 participants (25 Italian, 32 Russian, 32 Korean and 32 native German speakers), measuring their word-by-word reading times and comprehension accuracy. The data were analysed using linear mixed-effects and logistic regression modelling. Findings/conclusions: All three learner groups showed online sensitivity to both case and agreement disambiguation cues. Noticing case disambiguations did not necessarily lead to a correct interpretation, whereas noticing agreement disambiguations did. We conclude that intermediate to advanced learners are sensitive to morphosyntactic interpretation cues during online processing regardless of whether or not corresponding grammatical distinctions exist in their L1. Our results also suggest that case is not generally a better reanalysis cue than agreement. Significance/implications: L1 influence on L2 processing is more limited than might be expected. Contra previous findings, even intermediate learners show sensitivity to both agreement and case information during processing.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{BoxellFelser2017,
  author    = {Boxell, Oliver and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Sensitivity to parasitic gaps inside subject islands in native and non-native sentence processing},
  series = {Bilingualism : language and cognition.},
  volume    = {20},
  journal   = {Bilingualism : language and cognition.},
  publisher = {Cambridge Univ. Press},
  address   = {New York},
  issn      = {1366-7289},
  doi       = {10.1017/S1366728915000942},
  pages     = {494 -- 511},
  year      = {2017},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{FelserCunningsBatterhametal.2012,
  author    = {Felser, Claudia and Cunnings, Ian and Batterham, Claire and Clahsen, Harald},
  title     = {The timing of Island effects in nonnative sentence processing},
  series = {Studies in second language acquisition},
  volume    = {34},
  journal   = {Studies in second language acquisition},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {Cambridge University Press},
  address   = {Cambridge},
  issn      = {0272-2631},
  doi       = {10.1017/S0272263111000507},
  pages     = {67 -- 98},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {Using the eye-movement monitoring technique in two reading comprehension experiments, this study investigated the timing of constraints on wh-dependencies (so-called island constraints) in first- and second-language (L1 and L2) sentence processing. The results show that both L1 and L2 speakers of English are sensitive to extraction islands during processing, suggesting that memory storage limitations affect L1 and L2 comprehenders in essentially the same way. Furthermore, these results show that the timing of island effects in L1 compared to L2 sentence comprehension is affected differently by the type of cue (semantic fit versus filled gaps) signaling whether dependency formation is possible at a potential gap site. Even though L1 English speakers showed immediate sensitivity to filled gaps but not to lack of semantic fit, proficient German-speaking learners of English as a L2 showed the opposite sensitivity pattern. This indicates that initial wh-dependency formation in L2 processing is based on semantic feature matching rather than being structurally mediated as in L1 comprehension.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PueblaAntunesFelser2022,
  author    = {Puebla Antunes, Cecilia and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Discourse Prominence and Antecedent MisRetrieval during Native and Non-Native Pronoun Resolution},
  series = {Discours : revue de linguistique, psycholinguistique et informatique},
  journal   = {Discours : revue de linguistique, psycholinguistique et informatique},
  number    = {29},
  publisher = {Universit{\´e} de Paris-Sorbonne, Maion Recherche},
  address   = {Paris},
  issn      = {1963-1723},
  doi       = {10.4000/discours.11720},
  pages     = {33},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Previous studies on non-native (L2) anaphor resolution suggest that L2 comprehenders are guided more strongly by discourse-level cues compared to native (L1) comprehenders. Here we examine whether and how a grammatically inappropriate antecedent's discourse status affects the likelihood of it being considered during L1 and L2 pronoun resolution. We used an interference paradigm to examine how the extrasentential discourse impacts the resolution of German object pronouns. In an eye-tracking-during-reading experiment we examined whether an elaborated local antecedent ruled out by binding Condition B would be mis-retrieved during pronoun resolution, and whether initially introducing this antecedent as the discourse topic would affect the chances of it being mis-retrieved. While both participant groups rejected the inappropriate antecedent in an offline questionnaire irrespective of its discourse prominence, their real-time processing patterns differed. L1 speakers initially mis-retrieved the inappropriate antecedent regardless of its contextual prominence. L1 Russian/L2 German speakers, in contrast, were affected by the antecedent's discourse status, considering it only when it was discourse-new but not when it had previously been introduced as the discourse topic. Our findings show that L2 comprehenders are highly sensitive to discourse dynamics such as topic shifts, supporting the claim that discourse-level cues are more strongly weighted during L2 compared to L1 processing.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{PanSchimkeFelser2015,
  author    = {Pan, Hui-Yu and Schimke, Sarah and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Referential context effects in non-native relative clause ambiguity resolution},
  series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  journal   = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  number    = {398},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-404785},
  pages     = {16},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {We report the results from two experiments investigating how referential context information affects native and non-native readers' interpretation of ambiguous relative clauses in sentences such as The journalist interviewed the assistant of the inspector who was looking very serious. The preceding discourse context was manipulated such that it provided two potential referents for either the first (the assistant) or the second (the inspector) of the two noun phrases that could potentially host the relative clause, thus biasing towards either an NP1 or an NP2 modification reading. The results from an offline comprehension task indicate that both native English speakers' and German and Chinese-speaking ESL learners' ultimate interpretation preferences were reliably influenced by the type of referential context. In contrast, in a corresponding self-paced-reading task we found that referential context information modulated only the non-native participants' disambiguation preferences but not the native speakers'. Our results corroborate and extend previous findings suggesting that non-native comprehenders' initial analysis of structurally ambiguous input is strongly influenced by biasing discourse information.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{FelserCunningsBatterhametal.2012,
  author    = {Felser, Claudia and Cunnings, Ian and Batterham, Claire and Clahsen, Harald},
  title     = {The timing of island effects in nonnative sentence processing},
  series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  journal   = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  issn      = {1866-8364},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-41517},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-415179},
  pages     = {32},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {Using the eye-movement monitoring technique in two reading comprehension experiments, this study investigated the timing of constraints on wh-dependencies (so-called island constraints) in first- and second-language (L1 and L2) sentence processing. The results show that both L1 and L2 speakers of English are sensitive to extraction islands during processing, suggesting that memory storage limitations affect L1 and L2 comprehenders in essentially the same way. Furthermore, these results show that the timing of island effects in L1 compared to L2 sentence comprehension is affected differently by the type of cue (semantic fit versus filled gaps) signaling whether dependency formation is possible at a potential gap site. Even though L1 English speakers showed immediate sensitivity to filled gaps but not to lack of semantic fit, proficient German-speaking learners of English as a L2 showed the opposite sensitivity pattern. This indicates that initial wh-dependency formation in L2 processing is based on semantic feature matching rather than being structurally mediated as in L1 comprehension.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{RadfordFelserBoxell2012,
  author    = {Radford, Andrew and Felser, Claudia and Boxell, Oliver},
  title     = {Preposition copying and pruning in present-day English},
  series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  journal   = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  number    = {527},
  issn      = {1866-8364},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-41489},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-414898},
  pages     = {24},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {This article investigates the nature of preposition copying and preposition pruning structures in present-day English. We begin by illustrating the two phenomena and consider how they might be accounted for in syntactic terms, and go on to explore the possibility that preposition copying and pruning arise for processing reasons. We then report on two acceptability judgement experiments examining the extent to which native speakers of English are sensitive to these types of 'error' in language comprehension. Our results indicate that preposition copying creates redundancy rather than ungrammaticality, whereas preposition pruning creates processing problems for comprehenders that may render it unacceptable in timed (but not necessarily in untimed) judgement tasks. Our findings furthermore illustrate the usefulness of combining corpus studies and experimentally elicited data for gaining a clearer picture of usage and acceptability, and the potential benefits of examining syntactic phenomena from both a theoretical and a processing perspective.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{ReifegersteJarvisFelser2020,
  author    = {Reifegerste, Jana and Jarvis, Rebecca and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Effects of chronological age on native and nonnative sentence processing},
  series = {Journal of memory and language},
  volume    = {111},
  journal   = {Journal of memory and language},
  publisher = {Elsevier},
  address   = {Amsterdam [u.a.]},
  issn      = {0749-596X},
  doi       = {10.1016/j.jml.2019.104083},
  pages     = {23},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {While much attention has been devoted to the cognition of aging multilingual individuals, little is known about how age affects their grammatical processing. We assessed subject-verb number-agreement processing in sixty native (L1) and sixty non-native (L2) speakers of German (age: 18-84) using a binary-choice sentence-completion task, along with various individual-differences tests. Our results revealed differential effects of age on L1 and L2 speakers' accuracy and reaction times (RTs). L1 speakers' RTs increased with age, and they became more susceptible to attraction errors. In contrast, L2 speakers' RTs decreased, once age-related slowing was controlled for, and their overall accuracy increased. We interpret this as resulting from increased L2 exposure. Moreover, L2 speakers' accuracy/RT patterns were more strongly affected by cognitive variables (working memory, interference control) than L1 speakers'. Our findings show that as regards bilinguals' grammatical processing ability, aging is associated with both gains (in experience) and losses (in cognitive abilities).},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{LagoGarciaFelser2019,
  author    = {Lago, Sol and Garcia, Anna Stutter and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {The role of native and non-native grammars in the comprehension of possessive pronouns},
  series = {Second language research},
  volume    = {35},
  journal   = {Second language research},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {Sage Publ.},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {0267-6583},
  doi       = {10.1177/0267658318770491},
  pages     = {319 -- 349},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {Previous studies have shown that multilingual speakers are influenced by their native (L1) and non-native (L2) grammars when learning a new language. But, so far, these studies have mostly used untimed metalinguistic tasks. Here we examine whether multilinguals' prior grammars also affect their sensitivity to morphosyntactic constraints during processing. We use speeded judgment and self-paced reading tasks to examine the comprehension of German possessive pronouns. To investigate whether native and non-native grammars differentially affect participants' performance, we compare two groups of non-native German speakers with inverse L1-L2 distributions: a group with L1 Spanish - L2 English, and a group with L1 English - L2 Spanish. We show that the reading profiles of both groups are modulated by their L1 grammar, with L2 proficiency selectively affecting participants' judgment accuracy but not their reading times. We propose that reading comprehension is mainly influenced by multilinguals' native grammar, but that knowledge of an L2 grammar can further increase sensitivity to morphosyntactic violations in an additional language.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PanedaLagoVaresetal.2020,
  author    = {Pa{\~n}eda, Claudia and Lago, Sol and Vares, Elena and Ver{\´i}ssimo, Jo{\~a}o Marques and Felser, Claudia},
  title     = {Island effects in Spanish comprehension},
  series = {Glossa : a journal of general linguistics},
  volume    = {5},
  journal   = {Glossa : a journal of general linguistics},
  number    = {1},
  publisher = {Open Library of Humanities},
  address   = {London},
  issn      = {2397-1835},
  doi       = {10.5334/gjgl.1058},
  pages     = {30},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {A growing body of experimental syntactic research has revealed substantial variation in the magnitude of island effects, not only across languages but also across different grammatical constructions. Adopting a well-established experimental design, the present study examines island effects in Spanish using a speeded acceptability judgment task. To quantify variation across grammatical constructions, we tested extraction from four different types of structure (subjects, complex noun phrases, adjuncts and interrogative clauses). The results of Bayesian mixed effects modelling showed that the size of island effects varied between constructions, such that there was clear evidence of subject, adjunct and interrogative island effects, but not of complex noun phrase island effects. We also failed to find evidence that island effects were modulated by participants' working memory capacity as measured by an operation span task. To account for our results, we suggest that variability in island effects across constructions may be due to the interaction of syntactic, semantic-pragmatic and processing factors, which may affect island types differentially due to their idiosyncratic properties.},
  language  = {en}
}