The Role Of Prosody In Syntactic Disambiguation For Chinese-English Second Language Learners

A large number of cross-linguistic research suggests that native speakers use prosodic boundaries to resolve syntactic ambiguity of relative clause attachment in silent reading,and usually show a default preference for prosodic boundary position.However,studies on how L2 learners resolve attachment ambiguity by imposing prosodic boundaries,and what role L1 transfer effects play on default preference for prosodic boundary position in L2 sentences are still insufficient.More empirical data collected from L2 learners of different first languages are needed.Therefore,two experiments were conducted to investigate how Chinese EFL learners utilized prosodic boundaries to resolve syntactic ambiguity of “Noun1 of Noun2 + relative clause+ verb phrase” structures in speech production and silent reading.Experiment 1 used a single factor with three levels(context: high attachment,low attachment,no preference)within-subject design,and 18 postgraduates of English major were recruited as participants.Experiment 1 aimed to discuss the prosodic cues produced by Chinese EFL learners to resolve attachment ambiguity in different contexts.The results showed that both the duration of Noun2 and the prosodic boundary after Noun2 was longer than that of Noun1 and the prosodic boundary after Noun1;Interactions between boundary position and context indicated that,compared with context implying no preference or high attachment,readers took longer pause duration at the prosodic boundary after Noun1 in low attachment context.Experiment 2 used a 2(boundary position: after Noun1,after Noun2)× 3(sentence type:high attachment,low attachment,ambiguity)within-subject design,and 45 students of English majors with high proficiency in English took part in.By recording the eye movements of Chinese EFL learners with Eyelink Portable Duo in silent reading,Experiment 2 aimed to explore the role of implicit prosodic boundaries during attachment disambiguation.The results showed that the main effects of the prosodic boundaries were found in both the early and late processing stages in Noun2 and the area before disambiguation.That is,compared with the prosodic boundary after Noun2,the prosodic boundary after Noun1 led to longer first-pass reading time in Noun2,and longer total fixation duration and higher regression-out proportions in both Noun2 and the area before disambiguation.There were interactions between boundary position and sentence type in the late processing stage of the area before disambiguation.To be specific,the prosodic boundary after Noun1 led to longer total fixation duration in global ambiguous sentences than that in high-attachment sentences,and no differences in reading cost were found between high-attachment and low-attachment sentences.On the other hand,the prosodic boundary after Noun2 led to longer regression path duration in high-attachment sentences than that in globally ambiguous and low-attachment sentences.Weak interactions between boundary position and sentence type were found in the late processing stage of the disambiguation area,that is,compared with the prosodic boundary after Noun1,the prosodic boundary after Noun2 induced slightly higher regression-out proportions in low-attachment sentences,while prosodic boundaries imposed no effects on the processing of the high-attachment sentences nor global ambiguous sentences in the disambiguation area.Chinese EFL learners prefer prosodic boundaries between “Noun1 of Noun2” structures and relative clauses.In speech production,speakers only use pause duration as prosodic cues to disambiguate.In silent reading,readers immediately perceive prosodic information,and prosodic processing lasts from the early stage of lexical acquisition to the late stage of integration.However,Chinese EFL learners make limited use of implicit prosodic boundaries to resolve attachment ambiguity.According to the current study,in English teaching activities,teachers should pay attention to improving students' awareness of prosody as well as cultivating their abilities to use prosodic boundaries for syntactic analysis through ambiguity resolution training.Also,more listening and communicative practice should be taken into consideration to benefit students' perception and judgment of L2 prosody.