The Influence Of Conjunctions And Verb-based Implicit Causality On Pronoun Resolution:ERP Evidence From Proficient Chinese English Learners

So far, a number of studies have touched upon the questions of how various factors like syntactic and semantic constraints affect pronoun resolution, but little is known about how conjunctions can exert influence on referential processing, especially during second language processing, as conjunctions play a more crucial role in the construction of a coherent sentence representation for second language learners relative to native speakers.By means of the ERPs (Event-related Potentials), which has the advantage of high time resolution, this study aimed to investigate: 1) how will different conjunctions (so, and,although, and full stop/no conjunction) affect the resolution of an ambiguous pronoun differentially during second language processing? 2) How will the influence of conjunctions on resolving an ambiguous pronoun be modulated by causality implicated in verbs (NP1-biased verbs and NP2-biased verbs)?The ERP results showed that relative to so (control condition), and and full stop sentences, the ambiguous pronoun (s/he) in although sentences elicited a larger Nref response, while there was no difference between and and so sentences. Moreover,compared with so sentences, the ambiguous pronoun in full stop sentences elicited positive responses in the central regions but Nref responses in the posterior regions. As for the effect of verb-based implicit causality, no significant difference was found between NP1-and NP2-biased verb conditions concerning the Nref responses elicited by the ambiguous pronoun in so, and or although sentences. However, for full stop sentences, the ambiguous pronoun in NP2-biased verb condition evoked a larger Nref response than that in NP1-biased verb condition.The above findings indicate that, 1) during second language processing, the presence of conjunction so and and can help to resolve referential ambiguity while the presence of conjunction although or the absence of a conjunction can increase referential uncertainty; 2)the resolution of an ambiguous pronoun can be determined by the interaction between conjunctions and verb-based semantics, as both NP1- and NP2-biased verbs in so and and sentences can facilitate pronoun resolution while this facilitating effect may disappear in although sentences. However, for full stop sentences, only NP1-biased verbs can facilitate pronoun resolution while the facilitating effect of NP2-biased verbs may disappear. All these indications above highlight the significance of conjunctions in establishing a coherent L2 discourse,to which L2 learners should attach sufficient significance.