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Oscillatory brain dynamics of pronoun processing in native Spanish speakers and in late second language learners of Spanish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2020

Eleonora Rossi Open the ORCID record for Eleonora Rossi [Opens in a new window]  and
Yanina Prystauka
Eleonora Rossi*
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Florida Department of Psychology, University of Florida
Yanina Prystauka
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut
*
Address for correspondence: Eleonora Rossi, E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

A longstanding question in the second language acquisition literature is whether late second language (L2) learners process grammatical structures in a native-like manner. Here, we use Time Frequency Representation (TFR) analysis to test morpho-syntactic processing of clitic pronouns in native and late L2 learners of Spanish. The TFR results show overall similar power decreases in theta, alpha, and beta frequencies in both groups. Critically, the observed oscillatory effects persisted in time for native Spanish speakers, but declined earlier for L2 learners. We discuss the results using cell-assembly theory models for language processing (e.g., Pulvermüller, 1999) that posit a biphasic time-course for neural assemblies consisting of an early ignition (recognition) and a later reverberation (re-processing) phase. We propose a working hypothesis for L2 processing in tune with a cell-assembly theory suggesting that the length of the reverberation phase could be a distinguishing feature between native and L2 processing.

Keywords

time-frequency representationgrammatical processingbilingualismneural oscillationssecond language learningclitic pronouns
Type
Research Article
Information
Bilingualism: Language and Cognition , Volume 23 , Issue 5 , November 2020 , pp. 964 - 977
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Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

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