Similarity effects in the online and offline comprehension of relative clauses: Evidence from L1 and L2 Greek

Abstract

In this study we explore similarity effects in the processing and comprehension of subject (SRCs) and object relative clauses (ORCs) in Greek as a first (L1) and second (L2) language. Increased disruption in the processing of ORCs in the L1 due to featural similarity in the nominal domain (e.g, number match) is accounted for by approaches such as the featural Relativized Minimality, and similarity-based interference models. Similarity effects are much less researched in the L2 and the findings are thus far inconclusive. We report online and offline data obtained by means of a self-paced reading task with native and non-native speakers of Greek. Our findings reveal processing and comprehension costs for ORCs as well as similarity effects modulated by the RC type during L1 and L2 online sentence processing. The non-native speakers show some indication of increased interference due to ORCs at the end of the sentences, and also lower accuracy than the native speakers. However, their accuracy is positively affected by proficiency scores. Our findings show that number match affects the processing of RCs alike in both groups, implying that native and non-native speakers of Greek overall employ similar parsing routines.