Anaphora Resolution in L2 English

Abstract

We test the interpretation of pronominal forms in L2 speakers of English whose L1 is Spanish. Previous research on learners of nonnull subject languages has shown conflicting results. The aim of the present study is to reconcile previous evidence and shed light on the factors that determine learners’ difficulty to interpret pronominal forms in the L2. In six comprehension experiments, we found that intermediate L2 speakers did not show increased difficulty compared to native speakers in integrating multiple sources of information (syntactic, discourse, pragmatic) to resolve ambiguous pronouns in intrasentential anaphora and cataphora conditions. However, we also found that when two referents with equal prominence are introduced using a conjoined noun phrase in the preceding context, the learner’s performance is significantly different than the performance of the native speakers, both in intrasentential and intersentential anaphora. We suggest that L2 speakers may encounter difficulties evaluating the salience of the antecedents during pronoun resolution.

Acquiring L2 Pronoun Interpretation Biases

“…However, research focusing on discourse-level priming in the L2 is more limited (e.g., Contemori, 2019). We describe here the results by Contemori et al (2019), which are particularly relevant for the present study. Contemori et al (2019) used priming sentences like ( 6) in a comprehension study, to change participants' pronoun interpretation biases in English.…”

“…Previous research has focused mainly on L2 speakers of a null-subject language, such as Italian, Spanish, and Greek, while existing research on learners of a nonnull subject language is more limited (L2 Dutch-L1 Turkish/German: Roberts et al, 2008;L2 German-L1 English: Wilson, 2009; L2 German-L1 Dutch: Ellert, 2013; L2 French-L1 Turkish: Schimke & Colonna, 2016; L2 English-L1 Spanish: Contemori & Dussias, 2016, 2020Contemori et al, 2019;Contemori, 2019;Contemori & Ivanova, 2021;L2 English-L1 Greek: Cunnings et al, 2017).…”

“…For L2 English, previous research using off-line and online sentence comprehension tasks has demonstrated that intermediate and highly proficient learners can use the firstmentioned bias to interpret ambiguous pronouns as native speakers do (Contemori et al, 2019;Contemori & Dussias, 2020;Cunnings et al, 2017).…”

“…However, not all sentences containing an ambiguous pronoun can be interpreted by L2 English speakers in a nativelike way. For example, Contemori et al (2019) tested intermediate proficiency L2 speakers (L1 Spanish) on the off-line interpretation of ambiguous pronouns, including sentences like (5). In (5), two referents are presented in the discourse using a conjoined NP and the pronoun appears in a second sentence where only one of the two NPs is repeated (see also Roberts et al, 2008 for the use of similar materials with L2 Dutch speakers).…”

“…By testing the comprehension of sentences like (5), Contemori et al (2019) found that native speakers of English interpreted the pronoun as referring to the local antecedent "Eric" in 87% of the cases, while L2 English speakers chose the local antecedent significantly less (59%). In comparison to previous studies where L2 speakers demonstrated nativelike interpretation of ambiguous pronouns (e.g., Contemori & Dussias, 2020;Cunnings et al, 2017), in Contemori et al (2019) L2 participants' performance may have been affected by the complexity of the context presented. Notice that in sentence (5), two referents are presented in the discourse using a conjoined NP.…”