Korean Learners' Sensitivity to Binding Principle A in English

Abstract

This study aims to explore the degree to which Korean L2 learners ofEnglish are able to establish grammatically mediated dependenciesbetween reflexive anaphors and their antecedents in English byexamining syntactic co-reference conditions. According to BindingPrinciple A (BP-A) (Chomsky 1981), both the locality and the c-commandcondition must be satisfied between reflexives and their antecedents. Toreveal late Korean learner's sensitivity to BP-A, this study conducted anon-line grammaticality judgements task and measured learner's accuracyrates and response times on sentences containing reflexives. We reportthat overall, learners are sensitive to the two conditions of BP-A, andsuggest that learners with high proficiency may ultimately attainnative-like knowledge of BP-A. We also suggest that L1-transfer/intereference may play a certain role in the process of acquiring BP-A byKorean learners.