Research in Second Language Processing and Parsing

This volume is the first dedicated to the growing field of theory and research on second language processing and parsing. The fourteen papers in this volume offer cutting-edge research using a number of different languages (e.g., Arabic, Spanish, Japanese, French, German, English) and structures (e.g., relative clauses, wh-gaps, gender, number) to examine various issues in second language processing: first language influence, whether or not non-natives can achieve native-like processing, the roles of context and prosody, the effects of working memory, and others. The researchers include both established scholars and newer voices, all offering important insights into the factors that affect processing and parsing in a second language.

Table of Contents:
1. Preface; 2. Part I. Introduction; 3. Second language processing and parsing: The issues (by VanPatten, Bill); 4. Part II. Relative clauses and wh-movement; 5. Relative clause attachment preferences of Turkish L2 speakers of English: Shallow parsing in the L2? (by Dinctopal-Deniz, Nazik); 6. Evidence of syntactic constraints in the processing of wh-movement: A study of Najdi Arabic learners of English (by Aldwayan, Saad); 7. Constraints on L2 learners' processing of wh-dependencies: Evidence from eye movements (by Cunnings, Ian); 8. Part III. Gender and number; 9. The effects of linear distance and working memory on the processing of gender agreement in Spanish (by Keating, Gregory D.); 10. Feature assembly in early stages of L2 acquisition: Processing evidence from L2 French (by Renaud, Claire); 11. Part IV. Subjects and objects; 12. Second language processing in Japanese scrambled sentences (by Mitsugi, Sanako); 13. Second language gap processing of Japanese scrambling under a Simpler Syntax account (by Hara, Masahiro); 14. The processing of subject-object ambiguities by English and Dutch L2 learners of German (by Jackson, Carrie N.); 15. Connections between processing, production and placement: Acquiring object pronouns in spanish as a second language (by Malovrh, Paul A.); 16. Part V. Phonology and lexicon; 17. The exploitation of fine phonetic detail in the processing of L2 French (by Shoemaker, Ellenor M.); 18. Translation ambiguity: Consequences for learning and processing (by Tokowicz, Natasha); 19. Part VI. Prosody and context; 20. Reading aloud in two languages: The interplay of syntax and prosody (by Fernandez, Eva M.); 21. Near-nativelike processing of contrastive focus in L2 French (by Reichle, Robert); 22. Author index; 23. Subject index