Language Transfer in Parsing Relative Clauses

The aim of this study is three-folds. The first is to see if Korean EFL learners have any preferences for ambiguity resolution of English relative clauses (RC). The ambiguity arises from the modification of RCs, as seen in the sentence Someone shot [NP1 the servant] of [NP2 the actress] who was on the balcony, where the RC may modify either NP1 or NP2. In L1 processing, preferences in modification have been observed across languages including Korean. I will reexamine the case, focusing on Korean EFL learners's processing English RCs. The second is to find out if L1 transfer to L2 operates in the resolution of RC attachment ambiguity, and if there is any correlation between L2 proficiency and RC attachment preferences. The third is to figure out the reason why they prefer a certain type of interpretation, with the experimental results from this study as well as previous studies. From the findings from the offline questionnaire from two groups, it will be argued that L1 influences L2 processing in the ambiguity resolution of English RCs, and, in addition, L2 proficiency does not affect RC attachment preferences. The Turning Hypothesis will be adopted to explain the findings.