The Role of Verb Argument Structure

in L2 English Sentence Processing by Korean Learners

Eunah Kim (Seoul National University)

This study
examines second language (L2) sentence processing with focus on the question of
whether advanced Korean learners of English immediately use verb argument
structure information to compute wh-dependencies.
Thirty-two Korean learners and 24 native speakers of English participated in an
online implausibility detection task. Participants read English sentences
region by region and indicated whether the sentences were plausible or not at
each region. Two manipulated factors were the thematic fit between the wh-phrase and the Theme role assigned by
the verb (e.g., I wonder which book the
child read in bed at night. vs. I
wonder which food the child read in bed at night.) and the argument
structure of the embedded verbs (e.g., transitive verbs, dative verbs, and
object control verbs). The results showed that the timing of implausibility
detection by native speakers differed depending on the verb type, suggesting
that native speakers immediately consider verb argument structure information
in the initial stage of wh-processing
as proposed by constraint-based lexicalist models (e.g., McDonald,
Maryellen, Pearlmutter, & Seidenberg, 1994; cf, Frazier, 2013; Rayner,
Carlson, & Frazier 1983). Korean learners also showed evidence of
sensitivity to the verb argument structure information, but their ability to
incorporate this information seems to be limited as compared to native speakers
of English. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the
mechanisms and strategies L2 learners resort to while processing sentences in
the L2.