The Limits of Context in L2 Semantic Ambiguity Resolution

Abstract

"A growing body of research in the generative paradigm investigates differences between non-native and native sentence processing. Research has focused on syntactic and lexico-syntactic ambiguity resolution, such as filler-gap dependencies (Juffs and Harrington 1995, 1996; White and Juffs 1998), argument structure (Frenck-Mestre and Pynte 1997; Juffs 1998a, 1998b), garden path problems (Juffs 1998b), relative clause attachment (Papadopoulou and Clahsen 2003) and the resolution of VP-ellipsis versus anaphora (Duffield and Matsuo 2001), among others. Recently, Papadopoulou and Clahsen (2003) argued that second language (L2) learners’ processing of relative clause attachment reflects a contextual strategy, whereas native speakers’ processing is structurally determined. In this paper, we address the respective role of the structure of interpretations versus contextual knowledge in the resolution of scope ambiguity in native versus non-native processing"