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  - GEN
A1  - Berger, Frauke
A1  - Höhle, Barbara
T1  - Restrictions on addition
BT  - children’s interpretation of the focus particles auch ‘ also ’ and nur ‘ only ’ in German
T2  - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe
N2  - Children up to school age have been reported to perform poorly when interpreting sentences containing restrictive and additive focus particles by treating sentences with a focus particle in the same way as sentences without it. Careful comparisons between results of previous studies indicate that this phenomenon is less pronounced for restrictive than for additive particles. We argue that this asymmetry is an effect of the presuppositional status of the proposition triggered by the additive particle. We tested this in two experiments with German-learning three-and four-year-olds using a method that made the exploitation of the information provided by the particles highly relevant for completing the task. Three-year-olds already performed remarkably well with sentences both with auch 'also' and with nur 'only'. Thus, children can consider the presuppositional contribution of the additive particle in their sentence interpretation and can exploit the restrictive particle as a marker of exhaustivity.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 509 
KW  - presupposition
KW  - comprehension
KW  - implicature
KW  - acquisition
KW  - semantics
KW  - asymmetry
KW  - tolerance
KW  - mandarin
Y1  - 2019
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-414911
SN  - 1866-8364
IS  - 509
ER  -