| Popis: |
Native speakers of English are differentially sensitive to morphologicallysimple and morphologically complex when both are ungrammatical. A largerP600 is elicited by sentences like *“The dogs must running” than *“The dog isrun.” This is taken to mean that native speakers have an easier time processingthe second condition, either because the base form of the verb is underspecifiedfor a number of featural specifications, or because predictions in “be”contexts are weaker than predictions in modal conditions. We find that L1speakers of Mandarin who speak English as a second language show a P600 toungrammatical, morphologically complex critical verbs, but no signal at all toungrammatical, morphologically simple critical verbs. This suggests they lackthe information to form predictions about “be” contexts or have an oversimplifiedrule about present participles: namely, that they only appear in “be”contexts, without realizing that auxiliary “be” licenses only present participles. |
