Korean EFL Learners' Interpretation of Quantifier-Negation Scope Interaction in English

This study presents two experiments which are designed to explore the Isomorphism Effects in Korean EFL learners, by focusing on sentences containing negation and universal quantified noun phrases (NPs). A recent series of experimental investigation has focused on children's interpretation of sentences containing negation and quantified NPs (e.g., Every horse didn't jump over the fence). What emerges from this line of work is that, unlike adults, young children show a strong preference for the interpretation of such sentences that corresponds to the surface syntactic position of the elements involved, which is known as the Isomorphism Effect (Musolino, Crain, & Thornton 2000). In Experiment 1, I tested 60 EFL learners' interpretation of ambiguous sentences containing negation and quantified subject in English, by using the Truth Value Judgment Task Methodology. Like native speakers of English, advanced EFL learners accepted both an isomorphic and a non-isomorphic interpretation, whereas intermediate EFL learners accepted only the isomorphic reading. In Experiment 2, I also tested 60 EFL learners' interpretation of English sentences containing negation and quantified objects. Both groups from EFL learners accepted both isomorphic and non-isomorphic readings, whereas native speakers of English accepted only the isomorphic reading. Together these results indicate that Korean EFL learners do not show the Isomorphism Effect found in first language acquisition in the scope interaction between negation and quantifiers. Instead, Korean EFL learners strongly prefer a wide-scope (every>not) to a narrow-scope (not>every), regardless of their surface position, suggesting that L1 transfer plays a crucial role in understanding sentences containing negation and quantifiers.