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Volume 6, Issue 2
  • ISSN 2542-3835
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Abstract

Abstract

The study investigates the L2 acquisition of the Japanese reflexive (self) by Chinese-speaking learners. The aim of the study was to find out whether there are any differences in the interpretation and processing of , a long-distance reflexive that takes as its antecedent only sentential subjects, by native speakers and Chinese learners of Japanese. In the current study, we tested whether subject orientation, a property that Japanese and Chinese reflexives share, affects the processing of . The results from an antecedent identification task show that L2 learners performed somewhat differently from native speakers, showing some preference for a non-subject NP, which is not an antecedent candidate for . In a self-paced reading task, where two possible candidate antecedents could be considered for , L2 learners took longer than native speakers to select an antecedent. We argue that L1-L2 similarity does not guarantee target-like real-time comprehension of in Japanese.

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2024-02-27
2024-10-15

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/content/journals/10.1075/jsls.22015.hir
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An investigation of subject-orientation in the processing of Japanese reflexive zibun by native Japanese and Chinese-speaking learners
Journal of Second Language Studies 6, 348 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1075/jsls.22015.hir
/content/journals/10.1075/jsls.22015.hir
/content/journals/10.1075/jsls.22015.hir
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): binding; L1 Chinese; L2 Japanese; L2 processing; reflexives; subject-orientation; zibun

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