Are Korean english learners structure-sensitive in reflexive resolution?

Abstract

The aim of this study was to delve into how during online sentence comprehension, Korean L2 English learners cope with the interaction of two kinds of syntactic dependency, wh-filler-gap (WG) and reflexive-antecedent (RA) dependencies. Specifically, this study inspected whether such Korean L2 learners take as the antecedent for a reflexive the grammatically-licensing, local wh-gap in the embedded infinitive or finite clause. Experiments 1 and 2 in this study saw effects from gender mismatch between the wh-filler/ its gap and a reflexive, but not between the simply linearly-closer DP and the reflexive. These results provide quite robust evidence that Korean L2 learners of English in principle take a grammar-based approach to the interaction at issue. © Rushing Water Publishers Ltd. 2018.