Lexical Aspect in L2 Processing: an Electrophysiological Study

Abstract

This paper conducts an event-related potential (ERP) study to investigate the temporal neural dynamics of language processing in bilinguals. Examining how semantic processing occurs in bilinguals' brain in real-time, we tested the typical aspectual mismatch/coercion constructions with Korean L2 speakers of English. The experiment was done in a between-group design depending on the proficiency level. The experimental results show that the meaning-related ERP component (N400) was not observed with aspectual mismatch in any group. On the other hand, the P600 effect, known as a syntactic processing effect, was observed in the high proficiency group. Given the results, Korean-English bilinguals' processing pattern of lexical aspectual mismatch is somewhat different from L1 speakers', involving more syntactic processing rather than semantic processing. This study also suggests that proficiency has a close correlation with brain responses in L2 processing.