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ERIC Number: EJ1308659
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021-Sep
Pages: 30
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0272-2631
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Examining the Contribution of Markedness to the L2 Processing of Spanish Person Agreement: An Event-Related Potentials Study
Bañón, José Alemán; Miller, David; Rothman, Jason
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, v43 n4 p699-728 Sep 2021
We used event-related potentials to investigate how markedness impacts person agreement in English-speaking learners of L2-Spanish. Markedness was examined by probing agreement with both first-person (marked) and third-person (unmarked) subjects. Agreement was manipulated by crossing first-person subjects with third-person verbs and vice versa. Native speakers showed a P600 for both errors, larger for "first-person subject + third-person verb" violations. This aligns with claims that, when the first element in the dependency is marked (first person), the parser generates stronger predictions regarding upcoming agreeing elements using feature activation. Twenty-two upper-intermediate/advanced learners elicited a P600 across both errors. Learners were equally accurate detecting both errors, but the P600 was marginally reduced for "first-person subject + third-person verb" violations, suggesting that learners overused unmarked forms (third person) online. However, this asymmetry mainly characterized lower-proficiency learners. Results suggest that markedness impacts L2 agreement without constraining it, although learners are less likely to use marked features top-down.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A