Look and listen! The online processing of Korean case by native and non-native speakers

Abstract

We used a forced choice visual world paradigm to examine when listeners integrate case when processing Korean, in native speakers and two groups of adult L2 learners. The L2 learners varied as concerns the typological proximity between their L1 (French or Kazakh) and Korean. Processing was compared for canonical (SOV) and scrambled (OSV) word order. Nominal case marking was either accusative (NOM-ACC) or dative (NOM-DAT). Native Koreans showed anticipatory looks to the correct image, regardless of word order or case. Neither L2 group showed anticipatory looks to the correct image prior to the final auditory verb. Both L2 groups demonstrated superior performance for the dative. However, the Kazakh group showed better capacities to correctly interpret utterances based on case than the French. Our results provide evidence of the incremental nature of processing in Korean for native speakers and, for L2 learners, the effect of L1–L2 overlap and specific case marking.