Lexico-syntactic interactions in the resolution of relative clause ambiguities in a second language (L2): The role of cognate status and L2 proficiency

There is extensive evidence showing that bilinguals activate lexical representations in a non-selective way both when words are presented in isolation and in sentence contexts. Recent research has shown the existence of cross-language activation at the syntactic level as well. However, the extent to which the lexical and syntactic levels of representation interact during second language (L2) sentence processing, and how these interactions are modulated by L2 proficiency remain unclear. In this paper, we explore how native speakers of European-Portuguese (L1) who are learning English as an L2 at different levels of proficiency (intermediate vs. advanced) resolve relative clause (RC) syntactic ambiguities in their L2. European Portuguese and English native speakers were used as controls. Participants were asked to perform a sentence completion task, with cognates and noncognates critically embedded in the complex noun phrase (NP) preceding the RC, and which contained its antecedent. Results revealed that L2 learners, like English controls, preferred to attach the RC to the last host of the complex NP, regardless of L2 proficiency. Importantly, the cognate status of the complex NP modulated the results, although, contrary to our expectation, the presence of cognates induced less L1 syntax interference compared to noncognates.
This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (PSI/01662), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds, and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). It is also part of the research project EXPL/MHC-PCN/0859/2013 UID/PSI/01662/2013 and PSI2015-65116-P from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness. We would like to thank all the institutions that collaborated in data collection: The International House (Braga, Portugal, particularly its director Janet Sinclair), the Babelium (Braga, University of Minho, namely Anabela Rato and Joao Paulo Silva), the Wolfson Laboratory (Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, namely Prof. Robin Walker and Hannah Harvey), and Adimovel (particularly Simao Gomes and Conceicao Mendes). Finally, our gratitude to all the participants who took part, without whom this study would not have been possible.