|
Similarity effects in relative clauses: evidence from L1 and L2 Greek| title | Similarity effects in relative clauses: evidence from L1 and L2 Greek |
|---|
| start_date | 2023/04/24 |
|---|
| schedule | 12h15 |
|---|
| online | yes |
|---|
| location_info | On zoom |
|---|
| summary | Relative clauses (RCs) have been extensively explored in linguistic and psycholinguistic research and, in particular, regarding the asymmetry of subject vs. object RCs (Biondo et al., 2022; Gordon et al., 2001, 2004; Staub et al., 2017; Villata & Lorusso, 2020 a.o.): object RCs (1b) are more difficult to process than subject RCs (1a).
(1) a. The boy i that t i met the girl yesterday was kind.
b. The boy i that the girl met t i yesterday was kind.
Moreover, the processing difficulty attested with object RCs is intensified by similarity effects.
(2) a. The boy i that the girl met t i yesterday was kind.
b. The boy i that the girls met t i yesterday was kind.
The intervening DP (the girl) between the head of the RC and its trace (t) matches the moved element (the boy) in the number feature in (2a), whereas the number feature of the intervening element (the girls) in (2b) mismatches the one of the head of the RC (the boy). Sentence (2a) is expected to evoke stronger disruption as compared to (2b) (Biondo et al., 2022; Friedmann et al., 2009; Grillo, 2008 a.o.). The similarity effects attested in some studies have been accounted for by either a formal syntactic account, Featural Relativized Minimality (Grillo, 2008; Rizzi, 2004), or by cue-based accounts (Lewis et al., 2006; Lewis & Vasisth, 2005 a.o.).
In this talk we explore similarity effects in subject and object RCs by means of a selfpaced reading task conducted with adult native and non-native speakers of Greek. RCs have not been thoroughly investigated in Greek and in particular in relation to similarity effects. Moreover, very few studies have so far explored similarity effects in the second language (L2) and these involve L2 English (Cunnings & Fujita, 2021; Xia, White & Guzzo, 2022)). Our findings show the well-attested in the processing literature disadvantage for object RCs in both the L1 and the L2 data set, while the reading times on the two post-critical regions demonstrate similarity effects modulated by the structure of the RC. The accuracy data, on the other hand, exhibit an overall similarity disadvantage. We discuss our findings in relation to the afore-mentioned models as well to processing accounts for the second language. |
|---|
| responsibles | Hadjadj |
|---|
Workflow history| from state (1) | to state | comment | date |
|---|
| submitted | published | | 2023/04/19 15:32 UTC |
| |
|