Japanese EFL Learners and English Postpositive Modification : SVO Constraints on Noun Phrase Structure

Abstract

English relational expressions may be hard for Japanese learners to acquire for they follow the governing noun. The control group were asked first to make a noun phrase containing a relative clause (e.g.'the Italian food he cooks") and then to embed it as part of a sentence, (e.g. "The Italian food he cooks got customers.") The experimental group were asked to insert a given relative clause (e.g."he got" ) into a given matrix sentence (e.g.'The money caused troubles.") to make a complete complex sentence (e.g.'The money he got caused troubles."). In the second posttest, delayed effect occurred exclusively in the experimental group. How does the matrix structure (SVO) work as constraints on the noun phrase structure?