Korean Learners' Sensitivity to Binding Principle A in English

This study aims to explore the degree to which Korean L2 learners of English are able to establish grammatically mediated dependencies between reflexive anaphors and their antecedents in English by examining syntactic co-reference conditions. According to Binding Principle A (BP-A) (Chomsky 1981), both the locality and the c-command condition must be satisfied between reflexives and their antecedents. To reveal late Korean learner's sensitivity to BP-A, this study conducted an on-line grammaticality judgements task and measured learner's accuracy rates and response times on sentences containing reflexives. We report that overall, learners are sensitive to the two conditions of BP-A, and suggest that learners with high proficiency may ultimately attain native-like knowledge of BP-A. We also suggest that L1-transfer/ intereference may play a certain role in the process of acquiring BP-A by Korean learners.