TY  - GEN
A1  - Felser, Claudia
A1  - Cunnings, Ian
A1  - Batterham, Claire
A1  - Clahsen, Harald
T1  - The timing of island effects in nonnative sentence processing
T2  - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe
N2  - 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.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 526 
KW  - trace positions
KW  - empty categories
KW  - garden-paths
KW  - 2nd-language
KW  - grammar
KW  - dependencies
KW  - plausibility
KW  - constraints
KW  - english
KW  - comprehension
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-415179
SN  - 1866-8364
EP  - 526
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Felser, Claudia
A1  - Cunnings, Ian
A1  - Batterham, Claire
A1  - Clahsen, Harald
T1  - The timing of Island effects in nonnative sentence processing
JF  - Studies in second language acquisition
N2  - 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.
KW  - trace positions
KW  - empty categories
KW  - garden-paths
KW  - 2nd-language
KW  - grammar
KW  - dependencies
KW  - plausibility
KW  - constraints
KW  - english
KW  - comprehension
Y1  - 2012
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263111000507
SN  - 0272-2631
VL  - 34
IS  - 1
SP  - 67
EP  - 98
PB  - Cambridge University Press
CY  - Cambridge
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Lago, Sol
A1  - Garcia, Anna Stutter
A1  - Felser, Claudia
T1  - The role of native and non-native grammars in the comprehension of possessive pronouns
JF  - Second language research
N2  - 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.
KW  - comprehension
KW  - English
KW  - gender agreement
KW  - German
KW  - multilingualism
KW  - Spanish
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658318770491
SN  - 0267-6583
SN  - 1477-0326
VL  - 35
IS  - 3
SP  - 319
EP  - 349
PB  - Sage Publ.
CY  - London
ER  -