Distance effects in L2 Arabic agreement inflection

Distance effects in L2 Arabic agreement inflection

The structural and linear relationship between a controller and a target in an agreement relation is a core aspect of forming a grammatical sentence. This study tested whether or not the linear distance between the controller and the target (or, in one experiment, between the filler and the associated gap) moderates sensitivity to ungrammaticality in second language (L2) processing. Data was collected from 40 intermediate English-speaking learners of Arabic (ELAs), plus four native speakers of Arabic, using a word-by-word self-paced moving-window reading task, plus a comprehension task. The study consisted of three experiments, each concerned with the processing of gender and number agreement in a particular type of construction. Experiment One focused on agreement between a noun and a predicative adjective in a verbless sentence. The remaining two experiments were concerned with agreement between a matrix subject and a matrix verb. In Experiment Two, these two items were adjacent vs. separated. In Experiment Three, the distance between the items was short vs. long, plus they were separated by either a subject-headed or object-headed relative clause (RC). In each experiment, reading times were measured at the target plus three spillover regions. Overall, the results of these three experiments showed that, for gender and/or number agreement, distance (and, in Experiment Three, RC type) moderated learners’ sensitivity to agreement anomalies for gender and/or number agreement in at least one of the four critical regions under scrutiny. These results confirm distance as a stumbling block to agreement processing in the L2.

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