LLS Colloquium: Interpretation and processing of anaphors in second language

On Wednesday 1st March 2023, Makiko Hirakawa (Chuo University, Japan) will be presenting on "interpretation and processing of anaphors in second language".

Talk: Interpretation and processing of anaphors in second language

There has been extensive research on the L2 acquisition of reflexive binding in various languages including English, Japanese and Chinese. Reflexives in English must be linked to a c-commanding NP that matches the reflexive in person, gender and number features (e.g., Billi said that Johnj hurt himself *i/j., *Billi said that Maryj hurt himself*i/*j.). In contrast, Japanese and Chinese reflexives, zibun and ziji, can be bound either by a local antecedent or by a long-distance (LD) antecedent. Both anaphors have no person or number features, and they must be animate. A number of studies have examined L2 acquisition of Japanese zibun by L1 English (Thomas, 1993; Yuan, 1998; Kano & Nakayama, 2004; Yoshimura et al., 2012), but only a few have targeted learners whose L1 also has a mono-morphemic reflexive (Umeda et al. 2017, 2022). In this talk, I will report on studies investigating processing and interpretation of the Japanese reflexive zibun by Chinese speakers and the Chinese reflexive ziji by Japanese speakers, focusing on subject orientation and the blocking effect (i.e., an intervening first- or second-person pronoun blocks coreference between a reflexive and an LD antecedent). 

The talk will take place at 3pm, and there will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end. There will also be an informal wine reception afterwards in the Department of Language and Linguistic Science (Deborah Hines Room, 2nd floor). Everyone is welcome!