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How chinese learners of L2 European Portuguese interpret null and overt pronouns in forward and backward anaphora

Publication . Zheng, Yi; Luegi, Paula; Madeira, Ana; Matos, Gabriela

In a questionnaire study we investigate how native speakers of European Portuguese (EP) and Chinese, as well as Chinese learners of EP as second language (L2), interpret null and overt pronouns in forward and backward anaphora. Results show that EP native speakers exhibit different interpretative biases for null and overt pronominal subjects in both forward and backward anaphora. Chinese native speakers show similar interpretation in backward anaphora in their L1 but a subject preference with both null and overt pronouns in forward anaphora conditions. Chinese learners of L2 EP present an overall preference to interpret both pronouns as referring to the subject referent, although there is a developmental effect towards the target interpretation in overt pronoun backward anaphora conditions. Results confirm previous studies in L2 EP (Madeira et al., 2012; Lobo et al., 2017), but add the possibility that this pattern may be explained by L1 influence.

2018Journal article

Open access

Adaptation in Pronoun Resolution: Evidence from Brazilian and European Portuguese

Publication . Fernandes, Eunice; Luegi, Paula; Correa, Eudardo E.; de la Fuente, Israel; Hemforth, Barbara

Previous research accounting for pronoun resolution as a problem of probabilistic inference has not explored the phenomenon of adaptation, whereby the processor constantly tracks and adapts, rationally, to changes in a statistical environment. We investigate whether Brazilian (BP) and European Portuguese (EP) speakers adapt to variations in the probability of occurrence of ambiguous overt and null pronouns, in two experiments assessing resolution towards subject and object referents. For each variety (BP, EP), participants were faced with either the same number of null and overt pronouns (equal distribution), or with an environment with fewer overt (than null) pronouns (unequal distribution). We find that the preference for interpreting overt pronouns as referring back to an object referent (objectbiased interpretation) is higher when there are fewer overt pronouns (i.e., in the unequal, relative to the equal distribution condition). This is especially the case for BP, a variety with higher prior frequency and smaller object-biased interpretation of overt pronouns, suggesting that participants adapted incrementally and integrated prior statistical knowledge with the knowledge obtained in the experiment. We hypothesize that comprehenders adapted rationally, with the goal of maintaining, across variations in pronoun probability, the likelihood of subject and object referents. Our findings unify insights from research in pronoun resolution and in adaptation, and add to previous studies in both topics: They provide evidence for the influence of pronoun probability in pronoun resolution, and for an adaptation process whereby the language processor not only tracks statistical information, but uses it to make interpretational inferences.

2018-01Journal article

Open access