{"id":{"repo_id":"ku","oai_identifier":"oai:kuscholarworks.ku.edu:1808/38345"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/ku/oai:kuscholarworks.ku.edu:1808/38345","repository":{"repo_id":"ku","name":"University of Kansas","base_url":"https://kuscholarworks.ku.edu/server/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Number matters: enhancing nominal number to facilitate subject-verb agreement","abstract":"This dissertation examined whether Chinese-speaking learners’ processing of subject-verb (S-V) agreement in English is modulated by the accessibility of number features in the subject noun phrase, given that in English S-V agreement the verbal form is dependent on the number of the sentence subject. It has been argued that second language (L2) learners are insensitive to agreement violations online when their native language (L1) does not instantiate agreement (Jiang et al., 2011). Other proposals argue that learners show variability towards agreement due to weak specification of the features (Grüter et al. 2012; Hopp, 2013, 2016), and that via training L2 morpho-syntactic processing can be more native-like (Prévost & White, 2000; Ionin & Wexler, 2002; White, 2003). Given that Chinese does not instantiate obligatory plural-marking or S-V agreement, it is possible that Chinese-speaking learners’ difficulty in accessing the nominal number feature, which is encoded via the plural morpheme in English, influences their processing of S-V agreement.","abstract_html":"This dissertation examined whether Chinese-speaking learners’ processing of subject-verb (S-V) agreement in English is modulated by the accessibility of number features in the subject noun phrase, given that in English S-V agreement the verbal form is dependent on the number of the sentence subject. It has been argued that second language (L2) learners are insensitive to agreement violations online when their native language (L1) does not instantiate agreement (Jiang et al., 2011). Other proposals argue that learners show variability towards agreement due to weak specification of the features (Grüter et al. 2012; Hopp, 2013, 2016), and that via training L2 morpho-syntactic processing can be more native-like (Prévost & White, 2000; Ionin & Wexler, 2002; White, 2003). Given that Chinese does not instantiate obligatory plural-marking or S-V agreement, it is possible that Chinese-speaking learners’ difficulty in accessing the nominal number feature, which is encoded via the plural morpheme in English, influences their processing of S-V agreement.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Tang, Wenting"],"institution":"University of Kansas","degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Linguistics","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Gabriele, Alison","Fiorentino, Robert"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-01-01","date_published":"2020-01-01","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:46:17Z","subjects":["Agreement","Feature Accessibility","L1 Chinese L2 English","Morphology","Second Language Acquisition","Training"],"languages":["en"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["https://www.proquest.com/LegacyDocView/DISSNUM/28030125"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://www.proquest.com/LegacyDocView/DISSNUM/28030125","href":"https://www.proquest.com/LegacyDocView/DISSNUM/28030125","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/1808/38345","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Gabriele, Alison","Fiorentino, Robert"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Tang, Wenting"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2026-04-24T01:01:56Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2026-04-24T01:01:56Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2020-01-01"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["University of Kansas"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Linguistics"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Agreement","Feature Accessibility","L1 Chinese L2 English","Morphology","Second Language Acquisition","Training"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language.iso","label":"Language (ISO)","values":["en"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.other","label":"Dc Identifier Other","values":["https://www.proquest.com/LegacyDocView/DISSNUM/28030125"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/1808/38345"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This dissertation examined whether Chinese-speaking learners’ processing of subject-verb (S-V) agreement in English is modulated by the accessibility of number features in the subject noun phrase, given that in English S-V agreement the verbal form is dependent on the number of the sentence subject. It has been argued that second language (L2) learners are insensitive to agreement violations online when their native language (L1) does not instantiate agreement (Jiang et al., 2011). Other proposals argue that learners show variability towards agreement due to weak specification of the features (Grüter et al. 2012; Hopp, 2013, 2016), and that via training L2 morpho-syntactic processing can be more native-like (Prévost & White, 2000; Ionin & Wexler, 2002; White, 2003). Given that Chinese does not instantiate obligatory plural-marking or S-V agreement, it is possible that Chinese-speaking learners’ difficulty in accessing the nominal number feature, which is encoded via the plural morpheme in English, influences their processing of S-V agreement.","The current study investigated: a) whether native-like L2 processing of S-V agreement is possible for Chinese-speaking learners of English; b) whether linguistic cues (e.g. quantification, markedness) for the number features modulate sensitivity towards S-V agreement violations; c) whether training that enhances the specification of number features facilitates the processing of S-V agreement. The experiment consisted of a pretest, a training phase, a posttest, and a grammaticality judgment task administered at the end. Chinese-speaking learners were assigned into the experimental group and the control group. The pretest and posttest examined whether learners showed sensitivity towards S-V agreement violations using the self-paced reading task. The training phase was to enhance the specification of the nominal number features by strengthening the mapping between meaning (one vs. more than one) and form (absence vs. presence of plural-marking). Although Chinese-speaking learners did not show sensitivity to S-V agreement violations initially in the pre-test, sensitivity did emerge post-training in the experimental group while not in the control group. This suggests the L2 processing of properties not instantiated in the L1 can become more native-like via training (Prévost & White, 2000; Ionin & Wexler, 2002; White, 2003). The effect of quantification was observed in the grammaticality judgment task, while markedness was not significant. The results suggest that enhancing the specification of the nominal number features facilitates processing of subject-verb agreement, extending the previous findings in the gender agreement domain (Hopp 2013, 2016) to number agreement."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Number matters: enhancing nominal number to facilitate subject-verb agreement"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Gabriele, Alison","Fiorentino, Robert"],"dc:creator":["Tang, Wenting"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2026-04-24T01:01:56Z"],"dc:date.available":["2026-04-24T01:01:56Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2020-01-01"],"dc:description.abstract":["This dissertation examined whether Chinese-speaking learners’ processing of subject-verb (S-V) agreement in English is modulated by the accessibility of number features in the subject noun phrase, given that in English S-V agreement the verbal form is dependent on the number of the sentence subject. It has been argued that second language (L2) learners are insensitive to agreement violations online when their native language (L1) does not instantiate agreement (Jiang et al., 2011). Other proposals argue that learners show variability towards agreement due to weak specification of the features (Grüter et al. 2012; Hopp, 2013, 2016), and that via training L2 morpho-syntactic processing can be more native-like (Prévost & White, 2000; Ionin & Wexler, 2002; White, 2003). Given that Chinese does not instantiate obligatory plural-marking or S-V agreement, it is possible that Chinese-speaking learners’ difficulty in accessing the nominal number feature, which is encoded via the plural morpheme in English, influences their processing of S-V agreement.","The current study investigated: a) whether native-like L2 processing of S-V agreement is possible for Chinese-speaking learners of English; b) whether linguistic cues (e.g. quantification, markedness) for the number features modulate sensitivity towards S-V agreement violations; c) whether training that enhances the specification of number features facilitates the processing of S-V agreement. The experiment consisted of a pretest, a training phase, a posttest, and a grammaticality judgment task administered at the end. Chinese-speaking learners were assigned into the experimental group and the control group. The pretest and posttest examined whether learners showed sensitivity towards S-V agreement violations using the self-paced reading task. The training phase was to enhance the specification of the nominal number features by strengthening the mapping between meaning (one vs. more than one) and form (absence vs. presence of plural-marking). Although Chinese-speaking learners did not show sensitivity to S-V agreement violations initially in the pre-test, sensitivity did emerge post-training in the experimental group while not in the control group. This suggests the L2 processing of properties not instantiated in the L1 can become more native-like via training (Prévost & White, 2000; Ionin & Wexler, 2002; White, 2003). The effect of quantification was observed in the grammaticality judgment task, while markedness was not significant. The results suggest that enhancing the specification of the nominal number features facilitates processing of subject-verb agreement, extending the previous findings in the gender agreement domain (Hopp 2013, 2016) to number agreement."],"dc:identifier.other":["https://www.proquest.com/LegacyDocView/DISSNUM/28030125"],"dc:identifier.uri":["https://hdl.handle.net/1808/38345"],"dc:language.iso":["en"],"dc:publisher":["University of Kansas"],"dc:subject":["Agreement","Feature Accessibility","L1 Chinese L2 English","Morphology","Second Language Acquisition","Training"],"dc:title":["Number matters: enhancing nominal number to facilitate subject-verb agreement"],"dc:type":["Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Linguistics"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:46:17Z"}