Access to verb bias and plausibility information during syntactic processing in adult Spanish-English bilinguals

Abstract

In two experiments, we examine how proficient second language speakers integrate verb bias and plausibility information during online sentence comprehension. Spanish-English speakers and native English speakers read sentences in English in which a post-verbal noun phrase (NP) could be interpreted as a direct object or a sentential subject. To examine the role of verb bias, the post-verbal NP was preceded by a verb that is preferentially followed by a direct object (DO-bias verbs) or a sentential complement (SC-bias verbs). To assess the role of plausibility, the semantic fit between the verb and the post-verbal NP was either congruent or incongruent with the direct object interpretation. The results show that both second language speakers and native speakers used verb bias information to assign a grammatical role to the post-verbal ambiguous NP with small differences. Syntactic revision of an initially incorrect DO interpretation was facilitated by the presence of an implausible NP.

Keywords: DO/SC ambiguity; ERPs; Spanish–English bilinguals; ambiguity resolution; event-related potentials; plausibility; second language processing; sentence comprehension; verb bias.

Figure 1.

A) Grand averages of ERPs time-locked to the temporary ambiguous noun and including the disambiguating auxiliary verb (AUX). Dashed lines represent waveforms to nouns that are plausible as DO for the preceding DO verb and dotted lines, the implausible ones. Solid lines represent the condition preceded by SC biased verbs (in bold, plausible noun phrases). Boxes represent target time-windows. B) Electrodes grouped in regions included in the analyses.

Figure 2.

A) Native speakers of English. ERPs locked to the temporary ambiguous noun and including the disambiguating auxiliary verb (AUX). Left: DO biased sentences containing a plausible noun (dashed line) compared to SC biased sentences containing a plausible noun (solid line). Right: comparison of DO biased sentences containing a plausible noun (dashed line) with DO biased sentences containing an implausible noun (solid line). Shadowed areas depict target time-windows. Framed shadowed areas indicate statistically significant differences. B) Non-native speakers of English. ERPs locked to the temporary ambiguous noun and including the disambiguating auxiliary verb (AUX). Left: DO biased sentences containing a plausible noun (dashed line) compared to SC biased sentences containing a plausible noun (solid line). Right: comparison of DO biased sentences containing a plausible noun (dashed line) with DO biased sentences containing an implausible noun (solid line). Framed areas depict target time-windows. Framed shadowed areas indicate statistically significant differences.

Figure 3.

Grand averages of ERPs time-locked to the noun functioning as DO in sentences from Experiment 2. Dashed lines represent waveforms to nouns that are plausible as DO for the preceding verb and dotted lines, the implausible ones. Solid lines represent the condition preceded by SC biased verbs; in bold, followed by plausible nouns.