Binding Out of Relative Clauses in Native and Non-native Sentence Comprehension

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.

Connectivity effects in pseudoclefts in L1 and L2 speakers of German

“…In proficient L2 learners this difficulty sometimes becomes visible only in online processing tasks, however (e.g. Felser and Drummer, 2022).…”

“…While L2 speakers may be able to obtain interpretations in offline tasks that require no configurational changes beyond extending the scope of a quantified expression (e.g. Felser and Drummer, 2022;Lee et al, 1999;Marsden, 2009), computing appropriate semantic representations for pseudoclefts prior to evaluating a pronoun's interpretive options may overburden L2 speakers even in the absence of time pressure. Besides the complexity of the mental operations required for deriving certain interpretations, L2 speakers' ability to resolve syntax-semantic mismatches successfully may be influenced by individual-difference variables such as age of acquisition or L2 proficiency, L1/L2 typological relatedness, the nature of the task, and the presence or absence of time pressure.…”

“…First, the current picture is inconsistent, as results from other studies suggest that L2 speakers can implement scope shifts as reliably as L1 speakers, at least in offline tasks (Felser and Drummer, 2022;Lee et al, 1999;Marsden, 2009). Consider Felser and Drummer's (2022) findings on pronoun binding by quantified phrases embedded within subject-modifying relative clauses (RCs) in German, exemplified in (5). 2 (5) Der Förster, der jeden Gärtner kannte, war überzeugt, the forester who NOM every gardener ACC-MASC knew was convinced dass er mehr Bäume pflanzen sollte.…”

“…who Dima was this great writer 'What Dima was was a great author.' (adapted from Markman, 2008: 369, example 18) Contrary to earlier assumptions (Ionin, 2001), Russian is not scope-rigid (Antonyuk, 2019;Ionin et al, 2014), so that we can expect our L2 speakers to be able to obtain scope-shifted readings in principle (compare also Felser and Drummer, 2022). These L1/ L2 similarities should help minimize the possibility of our L2 participants' syntaxsemantics mappings being negatively affected by properties of their L1.…”

“…Since the QP jeden Gärtner (‘every gardener’) is embedded within an RC and thus does not c-command the pronoun er , which is located in a different subclause, a bound variable reading should not be available here. In an offline antecedent evaluation task in which participants had to decide whether the QP was a possible antecedent for the pronoun, Felser and Drummer (2022) found that L1 Russian-speaking L2 learners of German allowed for the pronoun in sentences such as (5) to be interpreted as referentially dependent on the QP in 37% of the cases, similar to German L1 speakers (43%). Instances of pronoun binding by a quantifier phrase in the absence of a c-command relationship between the two have been dubbed ‘telescoping’ readings (Roberts, 1989).…”