ROMÁN FERNÁNDEZ, PATRICIA ELENA, Kaan, Edith , Dussias, Paola
No
Biling.-Lang. Cogn.
Article
Científica
3.6
1.208
01/05/2022
000743797600001
2-s2.0-85119425386
In two experiments, we examine how proficient second language speakers integrate verb bias and plausibility information during online sentence comprehension. Spanish-English speakers and native English speakers read sentences in English in which a post-verbal noun phrase (NP) could be interpreted as a direct object or a sentential subject. To examine the role of verb bias, the post-verbal NP was preceded by a verb that is preferentially followed by a direct object (DO-bias verbs) or a sentential complement (SC-bias verbs). To assess the role of plausibility, the semantic fit between the verb and the post-verbal NP was either congruent or incongruent with the direct object interpretation. The results show that both second language speakers and native speakers used verb bias information to assign a grammatical role to the post-verbal ambiguous NP with small differences. Syntactic revision of an initially incorrect DO interpretation was facilitated by the presence of an implausible NP. © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press.
ambiguity resolution; DO/SC ambiguity; ERPs; event-related potentials; plausibility; second language processing; sentence comprehension; Spanish-English bilinguals; verb bias