Distance Matters in the L2 Processing of English Oblique RCs

This study examines whether second language (L2) learners of English have difficulty in processing two types of English oblique relative clauses (RCs) with different lengths of filler-gap dependency (FGD). Traditional comparison (subject RC vs. object RC) is problematic due to the uncontrolled animacy of the head nouns. Therefore, this study used the oblique RCs to test a pure length effect between the filler and the gap when L2 learners read sentences with oblique RCs, involving two types of RCs: (1) oblique RCs with short FGDs; (2) oblique RCs with long FGDs. The study examines the comprehension accuracy and total reading times of 27 L2 learners of English. They all read 16 critical sentences with 32 filler items in a self-paced reading task. The results supported the distance effect because Both high-(N=13) and intermediate-proficiency (N=14) groups spend longer reading times in processing oblique RCs with long FGDs than oblique RCs with short FGDs. These results indicate the distance effect of the FGD; greater length between the filler and the gap result in L2 processing difficulty.