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Individual differences in L2 parsing and lexical representations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2016

HOLGER HOPP
HOLGER HOPP*
Affiliation:
Technische Universität Braunschweig
*
Address for correspondence: Holger Hopp, English and American Studies, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Bienroder Weg 80, 38106 Braunschweig, Germanyh.hopp@tu-bs.de
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Extract

In an impressive review of recent research on the L2 processing of syntactic and anaphoric dependencies and ambiguities, Cunnings (Cunnings) convincingly demonstrates that the evidence from studies conducted within the last decade is not compatible with the Shallow Structures Hypothesis (SSH) which posits that L2 readers engage in structurally less detailed parses than native speakers. He also concludes that invoking capacity limitations in working memory in L2 learners cannot account for the full range of findings. Instead, he puts forth a novel approach to non-native processing in the context of cue-based models of memory retrieval. Cunnings assumes (i) L2 learners are more susceptible to interference, and (ii) L2 learners weight retrieval cues differently from native speakers.

Type
Peer Commentaries
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , August 2017 , pp. 689 - 690
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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References

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