Using verb morphology to predict subject number in L1 and L2 sentence processing: A visual-world eye-tracking experiment

Abstract

We investigated whether adult German native speakers and Dutch-speaking secondlanguage learners of German exploit German regular verb morphology for predictive sentence processing and whether such predictive processing is moderated by working memory capacity and awareness of the predictive cue. In a picture-matching task with visual-world eye-tracking, the participants (first-language group: n = 31; secondlanguage group: n = 30) saw two pictures of action scenes, varying in the number of referents depicted (singular versus plural). Simultaneously, they heard sentences in German in which the verb suffix represented the first reliable cue for grammatical number of the upcoming subject noun phrase. Successful exploitation of this number cue was measured as anticipatory button-press reaction times and eye-movements toward the correct picture, before subject onset. We found significant prediction effects in both the first-language and the second-language group, with anticipatory processing being somewhat faster in the native speakers than in the learners. Faster reaction times on prediction trials were associated with higher working memory scores. Debriefing interviews revealed that all participants had become aware that they could use the verb form predictively, adding further evidence that prediction can be a conscious process.

Possessive Processing in Bilingual Comprehension

“…Ongoing research has suggested that these features may be relied on to different extents in L2 processing and that this depends on several variables, including task demands, listener goals, and the availability of other information (Henry et al., 2017; Henry et al., 2020; Kaan & Grüter, 2021). On the other hand, one limitation of the simpler, two‐picture displays is that participants are more likely to become aware of the critical manipulation and start using the feature under study strategically (Curcic et al., 2019; Koch et al., 2021). This is challenging for interpreting experimental results in terms of the use of automatic processing mechanisms.…”

Prediction in bilingual sentence processing: How prediction differs in a later learned language from a first language

“…Prevalent among the reported L1/L2 differences in prediction are differences in the time course of prediction. A later onset of prediction in L2 processing relative to L1 processing has been reported for the use of semantic information such as the lexicalsemantics of verbs (Chun & Kaan, 2019), the semantics of classifiers (Mitsugi, 2018), negative polarity adverbs (Mitsugi, 2022), the broader semantic context (Dijkgraaf, Hartsuiker & Duyck, 2019;, gender stereotypes (Corps, Liao & Pickering, in press), the use of morphosyntactic information such as number encoded at the verb (Koch, Bulté, Housen & Godfroid, 2021) as well as discourse-level information (Kim & Grüter, 2021). In addition to differences in the time course, several studies have attested weaker effects in L2 processing (e.g., Kim & Grüter, 2021;Schlenter & Felser, 2021).…”

“…In contrast, a high and noticeable reliability of a cue may have a facilitative effect. For example, Koch et al (2021) noted that the Dutch L1-German L2 speakers in their study indicated in a postexperiment interview that they became aware of the cue: here, number marking on the verb. Thus, in addition to familiarity with subject-verb agreement from their L1 Dutch, becoming consciously aware that there was a cue might have aided their prediction.…”

The predictive processing of number information in subregular verb morphology in a first and second language

“…The second task is the picture-matching task described above, which had the stem-vowel alternation in strong verbs as its target structure. In this paper, we focus uniquely on the second task; the first task (for a full report, see Koch et al, 2021) is only reported on to the extent necessary to understand and interpret the second task. The first task revealed robust, suffix-based prediction effects; moreover, these were found to be of an aware and strategic kind (also see subsection Awareness, under Results).…”

“…Moreover, research should go beyond using only the copula as carrier of predictive information, as its conjugation is highly irregular and achieved through suppletion, resulting in a very salient singular-plural distinction, while conjugation through affixation or allomorphy is less salient and harder to learn and process (Krause et al, 2015). Prediction based on regular ("weak") affixation in German verbs has been investigated in Koch et al (2021), a visual world study that is part of the same project as the present study and that involves the same sample (see Procedure). The German weak conjugation paradigm is still productive and marks morphosyntactic information (person, number, mood, and tense) uniquely through affixation.…”