Research master thesis | Linguistics (research) (MA)
open access
Eye-tracking reading on bilinguals has found divergent results: some have found disadvantages for bilinguals of varying proficiency as compared to monolinguals, where language proficiency scores...Show moreEye-tracking reading on bilinguals has found divergent results: some have found disadvantages for bilinguals of varying proficiency as compared to monolinguals, where language proficiency scores and individual differences in cognitive control ability accounted for these differences. Others reported a bilingual advantage in cognitive control which also affected syntactic parsing beneficially as bilinguals scored higher on comprehension whilst processing garden-path sentences. However, bilingualism itself is often poorly defined, which can lead to unfair comparisons between, potentially, extremely different types of bilinguals. Therefore, we employ a strict definition of bilingualism, as well as clearly defining what language-pairing our bilinguals have and what the potential language interaction effects of the pairing could be. In this fashion, the current study assesses whether high-proficiency Dutch-English bilinguals show an advantage on sentence comprehension of garden-path sentences and whether lingering misinterpretations related to garden-path effects in Good-Enough parsing theories remain and follow the expected patterns. We employed eye-tracking with N = 20 Dutch-English bilinguals and N = 12 native English speakers, and compared their reading times and comprehension accuracy. Our results confirm the patterns suggested in recent adaptations made to Good-Enough parsing models, in which information structure and prediction are incorporated and help guide the parsing process. Additionally, we find evidence of a specific Dutch-English language interaction which surfaces as an advantage for the bilinguals in specific eye-tracking measures and sentence parts, but no further (dis)advantage between our bilingual and native English speaker group, neither in sentence comprehension nor cognitive control, was found.Show less
