Van Hell, J. 1 & Tokowicz, N. 2
1 Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, USA
2 Department of Psychology and the Learning Research and Development Center, University of Pittsburg, Pittsburg, USA
Does knowledge of syntactic structures in the first language affect the learning and processing of syntactic structures in the second language? The Competition Model predicts that transfer of syntactic structures from L1 to L2 depends on cross-language similarity (e.g., MacWhinney, 2008; Tokowicz & MacWhinney, 2005). The competition model predicts that in case of similar structures, but not in dissimilar structures, L2 learners will be highly sensitive to syntactic violations at an early point in L2 learning, and that acquisition of structures that are unique to the second language will depend on the availability and reliability of relevant cues. These predictions were tested in two studies with Dutch learners of L2 English and English learners of L2 Spanish. The syntactic structures under study were similar across two languages (English verb inflection for native Dutch speakers, Spanish demonstrative determiner-noun number agreement for native English speakers), unique (Spanish determiner-noun gender agreement for native English speakers) or dissimilar (English present progressive for native Dutch speakers, Spanish definite determiner-noun number agreement for native English speakers). Dutch-English relatively proficient bilinguals showed typical native-like ERP signatures of morphosyntactic processing on all structures (irrespective of L1-L2 similarity). Unlike some previous findings in beginning learners, both the Dutch-English and the English-Spanish beginning learners’ ERP patterns showed ERP sensitivity to violations of constructions that are similar and different in the two languages; the English-Spanish beginning learners showed no sensitivity to the construction that is unique to Spanish. We will discuss these findings in relation to the (scarce but emergent) literature on ERP patterns in morphosyntactic processing in beginning L2 learners, cross-language transfer, and the Competition Model.