Retention of surface linguistic information during reading in L1 and L2

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Denisa Bordag
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 450373579

Previous research on reading in L1 converges on the assumption that surface linguistic information is not retained during reading, but decays rapidly after superior hierarchical structures are built; only propositional information is transferred to long term memory. The present project tests a hypothesis based on the most recent research that L2 learners retain surface linguistic information to larger extent than native speakers and that this information becomes a part of their mental text model during reading. Following questions are addressed in particular: a) Do different types of surface information differ in how well they are retained? b) Which role in their retention does the presence/absence of equivalent structures in the native language of the L2-readers play? c) Is the ability to store verbatim Information related to shallower processing of the text contents? The results will be discussed in the context of processing, acquisition and cognitive theories (e.g. Shallow Structure Hypothesis, Procedural/Declarative Modell, Fuzzy Trace Theory). Data from native speakers of English, German, Hebrew and Czech will be collected primarily through eyetracking.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants