Syntactic Ambiguity Resolution: A Case of L2 Learners

Abstract

A self-paced reading technique examined the processing strategies adult Persian L2 learners of English adopt when tackling sentences containing temporary noun phrase/sentential complement ambiguity. In this study, verb type (NP-biased vs. S-biased) and complement type (NP-complement vs. Scomplement vs. that-clause complement) were manipulated, i.e. barring thatclause complement, the noun phrase following these verbs was ambiguous between the object of the preceding verb and the subject of the following sentence complement. The purpose was to see whether L2 learners used verbbased information as proposed by constraint-based model or only certain principles of computational economy such as minimal attachment favored by garden-path model in their processing of such sentences. The results indicated that sentences in which the NP followed either of the verb types were read measurably faster than those in which S-complement or that-clause followed these verbs, thus providing evidence that largely confirmed the claims of the garden-path model.