Poster E23, Thursday, August 22, 2019, 3:45 – 5:30 pm, Restaurant Hall
First language matters: An auditory ERP study of crosslinguistic influence effects on semantic processing
Frida Blomberg1, Marianne Gullberg2, Annika Andersson1;1Linnaeus University, 2Lund University
Second language (L2) learners experience challenges when semantics differ across source and target languages, and often display crosslinguistic influence (CLI) in speech production and behavioral comprehension studies (e.g., Jarvis & Pavlenko, 2008). However, in studies using event-related potentials (ERP) CLI has rarely been reported, probably because these studies typically examine the processing of gross semantic violations (e.g., Kutas & Hillyard, 1980). If more fine-grained semantics are considered, semantic processing may well be subject to CLI. We explored how L2 learners of Swedish process fine-grained L2 verb semantics that are either shared or not shared with their first language (L1). We examined three Swedish placement verbs (sätta ‘set’, ställa ‘stand’, lägga ‘lay’), obligatory for describing placement on a surface with support from below (Viberg 1998). Verb choice depends on the shape, orientation and presence/absence of a base of the located object (Gullberg & Burenhult, 2012). In contrast, English has one general placement verb (put), whereas German has specific verbs similar to Swedish (stellen, legen; Narasimhan et al., 2012). In an auditory ERP study we compared English (n = 11) and German (n = 13) learners of L2 Swedish to native Swedish speakers (n = 12). We predicted that adult learners (~7 years of exposure) would differ in their processing of Swedish placement verbs depending on whether their L1 verbs were similar to (German) or differed from (English) Swedish in semantic granularity. German learners were thus expected to display more Swedish-like processing than English learners. Participants watched still images of objects being placed on a table while listening to sentences that were congruent/incongruent with the placement event. Participants performed offline appropriateness ratings of the picture-sentence pairs (1-6 Likert scale) after the ERP session. In both tasks object shape (symmetrical/asymmetrical), orientation (horizontal/vertical), and presence of base (with/without) were manipulated. While offline ratings were similar across groups, we found differences in the ERP effects. Native Swedish speakers displayed a biphasic response consisting of a larger anterior negativity and P600 when placement verbs were incongruent with object orientation (e.g. ställa ‘stand’ with a candle placed horizontally on a table). German learners processed the placement verbs similarly to Swedish native speakers—a biphasic ERP response when placement verbs were incongruent with object orientation relative to the ground. However, their responses consisted of an anterior positivity with the P600 rather than an anterior negativity. This anterior positivity has previously been related to learners allocating more attentional resources to an unexpected word. In contrast, English learners did not show an effect of verb congruency, but rather an anterior positivity and P600 for vertically placed objects regardless of the verb. This suggests a difficulty of processing verb semantics not present in L1 during online comprehension. The results overall suggest CLI in the online processing of fine-grained verb semantics, although no effects were detected in offline metalinguistic judgments. The findings are commensurate with results in the domain of L2 morphosyntax similarly suggesting that CLI is not a simple matter of presence or absence. Instead, different measures highlight different aspects.
Themes: Meaning: Lexical Semantics, Multilingualism
Method: Electrophysiology (MEG/EEG/ECOG)