非連続的依存関係の処理における母語話者対非母語話者比較

抄録

This article provides a selective review of recent sentence processing studies that have investigated non-native speakers’ real-time comprehension of different types of discontinuous dependency in English as a second language (L2). Taken together, the results from these studies reveal a fairly systematic pattern, with L2 learners tending to show native-like processing performance for ’forwards-looking’ dependencies but not for ’backwards-looking’ ones. Forwards-looking dependencies to be considered here include different kinds of wh-dependency, and backwards-looking ones include reflexive binding, anaphoric pronouns, and antecedent-contained deletions. I will explore possible reasons for the observed differences between forwards and backwards-looking syntactic dependencies in L2 processing by considering the nature of the different types of search process involved, and the necessity of accessing or computing detailed syntactic representations for successful dependency formation.