How Native and Non-native English Speakers Use Grammar and Context to Understand Complex Sentences

What is it about?

This study examines how both native English speakers and advanced Persian speakers of English process relative clauses, which are parts of sentences providing more information about a noun. The research focuses on how these groups interpret sentences where the relative clause could attach to one of two possible nouns. By manipulating whether these nouns are definite or indefinite (i.e., 'the nurse' versus 'a nurse'), the study investigates if definiteness—a discourse cue—affects their attachment preferences. The findings reveal that both groups show a preference for attaching the relative clause to the noun closest to it when the noun is definite. This challenges theories suggesting that native and non-native speakers use different cognitive strategies for sentence processing, particularly in contexts where discourse-based cues like definiteness are involved.

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Why is it important?

Understanding how second-language learners process complex grammatical structures compared to native speakers provides insights into language acquisition and cognitive processing. This research sheds light on whether non-native speakers rely more on discourse context or syntactic rules, which has implications for teaching strategies and linguistic theory. The study's findings suggest that advanced non-native speakers may not differ fundamentally from native speakers in their use of discourse cues like definiteness, thus contributing to a more nuanced understanding of second language processing and acquisition.

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