Two self-paced reading experiments investigated the real-time comprehension of doubly quantified sentences. The results showed that perceivers experienced processing difficulty in assigning inverse-scope interpretations to the quantified sentences, not only when the quantified sentence appeared in isolation, but also when the preceding context supported the inverse-scope interpretation and when the quantified sentence was unambiguously inverse scope. I conclude that the cost of assigning inverse scope arises from the greater syntactic complexity of the inverse-scope representation, as a structure-driven model of the human sentence processing mechanism would predict.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether there is a significant difference in the use of syntactic and semantic information, or the combination of both in Chinese learners’ processing strategies of English subject and object relative clauses. It also aims at determining whether a relationship exists in Chinese speakers’ L1 and L2 processing strategies. Thirty three advanced and 27 less advanced Chinese learners of English participated in a complex-rating task where they rated the complexity of both English and Chinese subject and object relative clauses based on a five-point scale. The results of this study indicated that like the control group, the advanced Chinese learners of English were able to use both syntactic and semantic information. However, in processing English subject and object relative clauses, the less advanced Chinese learners of English relied more on semantic information than syntactic cues.

OMNILEX est une base de données lexicales conçue pour la recherche en psycholinguistique. Cette base de données assure présentement deux fonctions principales : a) la sélection de stimuli expérimentaux par l’application simultanée de filtres et b) l’analyse quantitative des propriétés du lexique du français. Nous faisons un retour sur le concept de base de données lexicale et ses applications en recherche. Puis, nous décrivons le contenu et l’interface graphique du premier prototype d’OMNILEX accessible par l’Internet : www.omnilex.uottawa.ca. Enfin, nous discutons quelques pistes d’expansion de cette base de données.

This paper presents preliminary results from new experiments using the SENTENCE-MATCHING PARADIGM Forster (1979), Freedman & Forster (1985), also Bley-Vroman & Masterson (1989), investigating native-speakers’ and L2 learners’ knowledge of constraints on clitic placement in French. Our purpose is three fold: (i) to shed more light on the contrasts between native-speakers and L2 learners observed in previous experiments, especially Duffield & White (1999), and Duffield, White, Bruhn de Garavito, Montrul & Prévost (2002); (ii), to address specific criticisms of the sentence-matching task leveled by Gass (2001); (iii), to provide a firm empirical basis for follow-up experiments with L2 learners.

This paper tests the Position of Antecedent Hypothesis (PAH), formulated by Carminati (2002), in Romanian, in contexts involving dative quirky subjects. PAH states that the null pronoun prefers an antecedent in the Spec,IP position (subject position), while the overt pronoun prefers an antecedent not in the Spec,IP position (in object position or elsewhere lower in the clause). Structural configuration will guide the processor in choosing the proper antecedent for a pronoun. I prove that the PAH holds for non-canonical contexts, namely for dative subjects/nominative objects contexts in Romanian. To demonstrate this, I propose three off-line (pilot) experiments. The results show that there is a division of labour between null and overt pronouns in assigning a referent in non-canonical contexts. The null pronoun always chooses as antecedent the dative subject, in Spec,TP position and that the processor chooses as antecedent for the overt pronoun, the nominative logical object, situated in a lower position in the clause.

This study investigates the use of the English article the in L2 Japanese learners based on Ionin and Wexler’s (2003) study and examines Lardiere’s (2004) ‘reassembling of features’ proposal in L2 Japanese learners’ interlanguage.

The results are the following: (1) Japanese intermediate L2 learners of English associate the with referentiality. 2) Findings regarding the relationship between Japanese demonstratives and English articles suggest that the learners’ task may not consist of incorporating new features but of re-assembling (Lardiere 2004) the features associated with a given lexical item in the L2 grammar.

In the traditional theory of Arabic morphology, words are made by the interleaving of roots into patterns, both of which are abstract unpronounceable units. The root, often made of three consonants, carries the core meaning of the word and the pattern, made of the root consonant slots, vowels and consonant affixes, holds the syntactic meaning. The more recent etymon theory proposes that the root should be replaced by the bi-consonantal etymon, which is the segmental manifestation of the more abstract notion of the phonetic matrix. The two segments of the etymon or the two feature bundles of the matrix can be reversible, i.e. (x, y) or (y, x). This study examined the role of roots, etymons, and matrices in lexical processing in three lexical decision experiments. It also examined how abstract the processing of these units could be. Finally, the implications of the results for theories of morphology and lexical processing are discussed. The results suggest that roots and etymons are used in word recognition. Yet, there seems to be a limit on how abstract the processing of etymons and phonetic matrices could be.

In this paper we adopt Hyams’ (2001) proposal that RIs in child language fall out of the attempt to establish a realis/irrealis opposition. More specifically, we argue that the Root Infinitive stage or, in other words, the way in which children mark the realis/irrealis opposition, is manifested across languages depending on the (un)availability of the features Person [+/-P] and Infinitive [+/-R]. This proposal allows us to incorporate null subject languages into the discussion on RIs, which up to now had been considered not to show a RI stage. Furthermore, we claim that the forms selected by children to express realis and irrealis meaning can be predicted from the presence versus absence of these features in a given language.

In this paper we investigate the acquisition of control in second language (L2) English and Spanish by adult native speakers of Spanish and English by means of a bidirectional experimental study which contrasts different control structures according to the type of controlled clause (complement vs. adjunct control structures) and the type of control (obligatory vs. non-obligatory control). Our results will show that our experimental subjects transfer their L1-knowledge when interpreting and producing control structures, and learn language-specific rules.

The results of a study investigating the effect of L2 proficiency and L2 exposure on cross-linguistic influence from L1 English and L2 French on L3 German are reported in this paper. Rates of lexical inventions and language shifts were compared for three groups of L3 learners with different levels of L2 proficiency and amounts of exposure to L2. The results indicate that L2 has a greater influence on the L3 of learners who have had more exposure to their L2. The results also suggest that while L2 proficiency appears to have an impact on the frequency with which L2 intrudes during L3 communication, L2 exposure seems to influence learners’ ability to use their knowledge of L2 in order to overcome lexical difficulties in L3. It is also suggested that, unless a threshold level of L2 proficiency is achieved, cross-linguistic influence from L2 on L3 is very marginal.

Avoidance of Synonymy is said to be an important constraint in lexical acquisition. A lexicon is built in the mind of each individual, but the speech community also has a lexicon in its abstract collective “mind.” The avoidance of synonymy in individuals leads each speech community towards one dominant standard form for each meaning. Once a particular community has adopted a standard term, it is difficult for a synonymous term to replace it. For example, five different terms to describe rubber-soled casual shoes are each dominant in a different region of North America and these entrenched terms seem resistant to homogenization or replacement by a new word. New concepts or objects, however, favour innovative words. The process of entrenchment of a standard name for the Canadian two-dollar coin is discussed.