The Cambridge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2016-11-22T16:00:00+00:00

ERPs and language transfer

ERPs also allow one to investigate the influence of L1 on L2 processing depending on crosslinguistic differences/similarities. Tokowicz and MacWhinney (2005) examined the phenomenon of language transfer in English–Spanish learners. They tested learners’ sensitivity to (a) tense marking, which is formed similarly in English and Spanish; (b) nominal number agreement, which is formed differently in the L1 and the L2; and (c) nominal gender agreement, which is specific to the L2. The results showed a P600 effect in response to violations that occurred in structures that were similar in L1 and L2 (i.e. tense marking) and structures that were unique in L2 (i.e. gender agreement), but not in structures that were different across languages (i.e. number agreement). The authors suggested that structures that are similar in L1 and L2 and structures that exist only in the L2 should be acquired faster than those that are in conflict (or “competition”) between the two languages.

Kotz, Holcomb and Osterhout (2008) obtained a comparable effect of “positive transfer” when comparing highly proficient Spanish L2 speakers of English (AoA less than five years) and native English speakers. A similar P600 effect was found for native and L2 speakers in response to phrase structure violations and temporarily syntactically ambiguous sentences. The constraints in the phrase structures were similar in English and Spanish, whereas the temporary ambiguity was only possible in English, not in Spanish. These results support the claim that early L2 speakers can process structures that are crosslinguistically similar and language-specific to L2 in like fashion to native speakers.

Recently, Foucart and Frenck-Mestre (2011) found an effect of “negative transfer” when comparing French native speakers and German–French learners’ sensitivity to gender agreement violations. Both native and L2 speakers showed a P600 effect when violations occurred in structures that obey the same syntactic rules in L1 and L2 (i.e. agreement between singular determiner and noun). In contrast, German L2 speakers of French did not show this effect when L1 and L2 syntactic structures conflicted (i.e. plural adjective agreement). These results confirm that syntactic processing in L2 is affected by the similarity of syntactic rules in L1 and L2.

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