The Processing of English Applicative Constructions: Evidence from Eye-Tracking

Area of Science:

• Linguistics
• Psycholinguistics
• Second Language Acquisition

Background:

• The syntactic-semantic interface is crucial for language processing.
• Understanding how L2 learners process complex grammatical structures like applicatives is key.
• Previous research has not fully explored the processing of English applicative constructions by L2 learners.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare L2 English learners' processing of applicative constructions versus prepositional dative constructions.
• To investigate the factors influencing the processing of English applicative constructions.
• To examine the role of syntactic-semantic interface complexity in L2 processing.

Main Methods:

• An online comprehension eye-tracking experiment was conducted.
• Chinese learners of English read sentences with applicative and prepositional dative constructions.
• Eye movements were recorded to measure processing times.

Main Results:

• Learners showed slower processing of indirect objects in applicative constructions compared to prepositional dative constructions.
• Processing speed was influenced by thematic roles, verbal event types, and learner proficiency.
• Greater difficulty was observed in integrating syntactic and semantic information for applicative constructions.

Conclusions:

• L2 learners face challenges with the syntactic-semantic interface in English applicative constructions.
• The findings support the Interface Heterogeneity Hypothesis in bilingual language acquisition.
• This study provides insights into the complexities of L2 grammatical processing.