Ambiguity Resolution of English Relative Clauses by Persian Learners of English (original) (raw)
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Journal of Modern Research in English Language Studies, 2021
The present study explored the effect of semantic priming in the resolution of ambiguous sentences containing Relative Clauses (RCs) preceded by a complex Noun Phrase (NP) by L1-Persian learners of L2 English. The type of semantic relationship examined was the one between the RC and one of the NPs in the complex NP to find out whether semantic manipulation through priming one of the NPs to the RC can affect L2 learners' attachment preference. The participants were 60 L1-Persian learners of L2 English with different proficiency levels. In a selfpaced Paraphrase Decision Task using E-prime software, their reading times and attachment preferences while reading ambiguous sentences were examined. The low-proficiency participants' off-line (RC attachment preferences) and on-line data (reading times) were compared with off-line and on-line data obtained from highproficiency participants. The results revealed that in both groups, semantic priming affected participants' attachment preferences. These findings are consistent with Constraint-based Models of sentence processing, which assume that several sources of information, including semantics, are used in sentence processing. The results also support predictions of the Spreading Activation Model. There were also significant differences between the two groups, low-proficiency participants fully transferred their L1 (Persian) processing strategies to their L2 (English). However, high-proficiency participants processed sentences similarly to native English speakers even though there were still traces of their L1 parsing preferences which is consistent with Shallow Structure Hypothesis.
The processing of ambiguous sentences by Iranian EFL learners A Study of Relative Clause Attachment
Cumhuriyet Science Journal, 2015
The current study examined the way adult Iranian EFL learners resolve relative clause attachment ambiguities, for example, in sentence: Someone saw the maid of the actress who was on the balcony. The main problem posed by those sentences is that the learners fail to process the ambiguous sentences, in fact, they don't know that which noun they should prefer the attachment? 100 Intermediate Persian learners of English (Aged 15 up to 21) recruited from two English language Centers in Qazvin, a province in Iran. Safiran and Apple Institute, the participants are asked to take part in an off-line questionnaire study, they replied to English off-line questionnaire. Their performance was revealed by the answers. the results indicated that Iranian EFL students do not opt for low attachment in resolving relative clauses, rather they choose high attachment in resolving relative clauses. An implication of these findings is that there is semantic relationship between the two options or possibilities which the parser tries to analyze them .
Relative Clause Ambiguity Resolution in L1 and L2: Are Processing Strategies Transferred?
Applied Linguistics, 2018
This study aims at investigating whether Persian native speakers highly advanced in English as a second language (L2ers) can switch to optimal processing strategies in the languages they know and whether working memory capacity (WMC) plays a role in this respect. To this end, using a self-paced reading task, we examined the processing strategies 62 Persian speaking proficient L2ers used to read sentences containing ambiguous relative clauses in their L1 and L2. The results showed that L2ers adopt the same strategy as that used by English native speakers in both of their languages, indicating a target-language like parsing pattern in their L2 and an attrition of L1 parsing routine. Additionally, their attachment preferences were not modulated by WMC in L2. This result highlights the “skill-through-experience” position adopted by researchers who question the role of WMC in L2 syntactic parsing. However, high-capacity L2ers' preferences in L1 had attrited (becoming English-like), a...
Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 2015
This paper was an attempt to investigate the acquisition of the uninterpretable feature of resumptive pronouns by Persian foreign language learners of English. Tsimpli and Dimitrakopolou (2007) asserted that uninterpretable features are unavailable in second language acquisition after the critical period. Unlike English which does not allow resumptive pronouns (RPs), Persian shows various behaviors across different relative clauses (RCs). In Persian, RP is ungrammatical in subject, optional in object, and required in object-ofpreposition RCs. To examine the status of RPs in learners` interlanguage, a grammaticality judgment test and a translation test were administered to 120 Persian learners of English at three proficiency levels and also to 15 English native speakers. Repeated measures ANOVA was conducted and the results showed that the higher the proficiency of the learners the more native-like they would be in rejecting RPs in English. The results are in line with the predictions of the Interpretability Hypothesis proposed by Tsimpli and Dimitrakopoulou (2007). The findings also provided some theoretical and pedagogical implications for language policy makers especially with regard to age related issue.
The Role of Semantic Priming in Relative Clause Attachment Ambiguity Resolution in Persian
Alzahra University, 2022
The present study investigated the role of semantic priming in the processing of ambiguous sentences containing Relative Clauses (RCs) preceded by a complex Noun Phrase (NP) by Persian native speakers. To this end, in a self-paced reading task using E-prime software, 63 Persian native speakers read sentences containing ambiguous RCs in their L1, i.e. Persian. The type of semantic relationship in this study was the one between the RC and one of the NPs within the complex NP to find out whether priming one of the NPs through this semantic manipulation would affect Persian native speakers’ attachment preferences. The results of the off-line post interpretive (RC attachment preferences) and on-line data (reading times) revealed that semantic priming affects participants’ attachment preferences, which suggests that their parsing preferences are not guided purely by syntactic information. The findings are in line with constraint-based models of sentence parsing, which assume that, during parsing, multiple sources of information interact and each of them constrains the interpretation in a particular way. The results also support the predictions of the Spreading Activation Model and Lexical Priming Theory.
Acquisition of English Relative Clauses by Persian EFL Learners
Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 2009
Due to their structural complexity, English relative clauses (RCs) are difficult to acquire for EFL learners. This study tested the predictions of seven major hypotheses proposed on the difficulty order of SS, SO, OO, and OS RCs for Persian EFL learners with different levels of English proficiency. Data was collected from 39 university students aged between 18 and 22 who performed a sentence comprehension task which consisted of 20 items involving reversible animate head nouns, with 5 items representing each of the SS, SO, OO, and OS RCs. Results showed that the determining factor in the difficulty order of the RCs for Persian EFL learners is the role of the head noun in the RC rather than the position of relativization, as some hypotheses predict. Moreover, Persian EFL learners opt for a linear parsing strategy in processing RC structures. Besides, Proficiency level did not bring about a drastic change in the difficulty order of the RCs.
The Acquisition of Arabic and English Relative Clauses by L2 English and Arabic Learners
Dirāsāt, 2022
This study explored the acquisition of Arabic and English relative clauses by L2 English and Arabic learners. It examined the extent to which the Noun Phrase Accessibility Hierarchy (NPAH) (Keenan and Comrie 1977) and the Markedness Differential Hypothesis (MDH) (Eckman 1977) account for the acquisition of English and Arabic relative pronouns by English and Arabic L2 learners. Twenty Arabic-speaking learners of English and twenty English-speaking learners of Arabic were selected. To this end, four different tasks were used in this regard, namely the Sentence Combination task, the Multiple-Choice task, the Picture Description task, and the Grammaticality Judgement task. The results of this study showed that Arabic learners of English were able to comprehend and produce relative pronouns successfully. However, their performance was found to be affected by the system of relative pronouns of Arabic. For example, they were found better in producing who than whom. Additionally, the study found that the performance of Arabic learners of English was influenced by the type of the task (i.e., Sentence Combination Task is harder than the Multiple-Choice Task). On the other hand, the English-speaking learners of Arabic (i.e., the L2 Arabic group) produced and comprehended the Arabic relative pronouns easily despite their L1 language interference. The overall results showed that the NPAH and the MDH were able to predict the mistakes made by L2 learners of Arabic and English.
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 2008
This study investigates the manner in which syntax, prosody, and context interact when second- and fourth-semester college-level English-French learners process relative clause (RC) attachment to either the first noun phrase (NP1) or the second noun phrase (NP2) in complex nominal expressions such asle secrétaire du psychologue qui se promène (au centre ville)“the secretary of the psychologist who takes a walk (downtown).” Learners' interpretations were affected by the length of the RC, specifically its phonological weight. Effects of intonation contour were found only in a subset of learners. In a response time (RT) experiment that manipulated contexts, fourth-semester learners showed a final bias for NP1 attachment in interpretation but an initial RT bias for NP2 attachment. Second-semester learners also produced a NP2 attachment bias in RTs, but no asymmetry in interpretation was found. We argue that the processing of RC attachment by English-French learners requires a task-s...
Resolution of Relative Clause Ambiguity in Greek Near-native speakers of English: A replication
This study examines how proficient second language (L2) learners resolve relative clause attachment ambiguities. Taking into consideration the gaps in the literature to date with regard to defining nearnativeness, we evaluated the performance of 10 highly proficient speakers of English on a Self Paced Reading Task, in a replication of a study by . The results suggest that near-nativeness constitutes a crucial factor when it comes to L2 processing strategies, although a conclusive answer cannot be given due to the limitations of our study. We predict however, that in a larger scale study, the behavioural data would indicate the same underlying mechanisms for native and near-native language processing.
2021
The present study combined offand on-line tasks to demonstrate how L1 Japanese late intermediate learners of L2 English specify an antecedent of a relative clause (RC) in L1 Japanese and L2 English. When an RC has two candidate antecedents, it is reported that native English speakers prefer attaching an RC to a closer noun phrase (CNP) to itself (recency preference, RP), whereas native Japanese speakers prefer attaching an RC to the most distant noun phrase (DNP) from itself (predicate proximity, PP). Responses to a questionnaire that was administered as part of this study showed a similar preference with regard to RC attachment in L1 Japanese and L2 English. However, in the self-paced reading task, the reading time of RCs semantically biased to DNPs was longer than that of neutral RCs in L2 English, indicating a conflict between RP and PP during the processing of L2 English. The results suggest that native Japanese speakers learning English may unconsciously transfer their attachme...