The processing of ambiguous object pronoun in L1 and L2 speakers

Abstract

Experimental evidence on pronoun resolution has shown that speakers have difficulties in interpreting referential cues and anaphora biases. Our study tested L1 German and highly proficient L2 speakers (with L1 Georgian) and targeted factors which might differentially impact the resolution of ambiguous object pronouns in these two populations. Specifically, we examined grammatical role parallelism and asked to what extent L2 speakers differ from L1 speakers in forming grammatical dependencies. Eye-movement results revealed a bias towards the subject antecedent in L1, while the L2 showed object preference when resolving the referent of the object pronoun. Offline tests supported the eye-tracking findings of both groups. Grammatical role parallelism occurs to be a more prominent cue in the L2 compared to the L1.