L2 pronominal dependencies processing

Project title: L2 pronominal dependencies processing: an ERP study

This project investigates the on-line processing of L2 pronouns (e.g., him/her) and reflexives (e.g., himself/herself) by Chinese-speaking learners of English. Specifically, the project examines whether L1 and L2 processing are similar (e.g., following binding principles in real time) or different (as predicted by Shallow Structure Hypothesis). Both pronouns and reflexives are included, which allows us to see learners will treat them differently (BPA-reflexives; BPB-pronouns) or similarly by relying on the subject antecedent. Currently this project is being conducted at the neurolinguistics & language processing lab by Xuan Wang for his qualifying paper and master project, under the supervision of Dr. Fiorentino and Dr. Gabriele.