An investigation of subject-orientation in the processing of Japanese reflexive zibun by native Japanese and Chinese-speaking learners

Abstract

Abstract The study investigates the L2 acquisition of the Japanese reflexive zibun (self) by Chinese-speaking learners. The aim of the study was to find out whether there are any differences in the interpretation and processing of zibun, a long-distance reflexive that takes as its antecedent only sentential subjects, by native speakers and Chinese learners of Japanese. In the current study, we tested whether subject orientation, a property that Japanese and Chinese reflexives share, affects the processing of zibun. The results from an antecedent identification task show that L2 learners performed somewhat differently from native speakers, showing some preference for a non-subject NP, which is not an antecedent candidate for zibun. In a self-paced reading task, where two possible candidate antecedents could be considered for zibun, L2 learners took longer than native speakers to select an antecedent. We argue that L1-L2 similarity does not guarantee target-like real-time comprehension of zibun in Japanese.