Sentence processing in Spanish as a second language: A study of context, background knowledge and word order

Sentence processing research has demonstrated a strong tendency for second language learners to assign the role of subject or agent to the first noun of an utterance even though grammatical morphemes and function words indicate that the second noun is the subject (Bates and MacWhinney, 1984: Gass, 1989: Glisan, 1985: Heilenman & McDonald, 1992). English speakers learning Spanish mistake preverbal object pronouns for subjects (Lee, 1987; VanPatten, 1984). Although a first-noun strategy is highly reliable in English, it is less reliable in languages such as Spanish where Object-Verb-Subject (OVS) constructions occur more frequently. Sentence processing research has found that lexical semantics, a type of word-level prior knowledge, can override the tendency of second language learners to assign. The present study investigates whether context and background knowledge, like lexical semantics, can override this first-noun strategy when cues are in conflict. For example, when the first noun of an utterance is inanimate and the second noun is animate, Italian speakers tend to prefer a lexical semantic (animacy) strategy over a word-order (first noun) strategy (Bates and MacWhinney, 1984). These speakers tend to identify the animate second noun as the subject or agent.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Spanish

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Houston, Anthony Dean

Contributors dc:contributor

• VanPatten, Bill

• Education, Language and Literature
• Education, Bilingual and Multicultural
• Language, Linguistics
• Education, Educational Psychology
• Education, Higher

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 1996 Houston, Anthony Dean

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

9780591087055
AAI9702539
(UMI)AAI9702539

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/21076