L2 learners’ processing of Swedish placement verbs

This project explored whether the meaning of verbs in your first language affects how you process verb meaning in a new language. It focused on how English and German speakers learning Swedish process Swedish verbs for placement: sätta (set), ställa (stand), and lägga (lay). English has a general verb for placement, put, while German has verbs similar to Swedish: stellen (set/stand) and legen (lay). The project used EEG/ERP to probe online processing, and also asked participants to explicitly rate how well verb use matched a photo of the event (e.g. a photo of a candle being set vertically paired with the sentence She takes the candle and lays it on the table). Results showed that learners whose first language verbs were closer to Swedish, like the Germans, processed and judged Swedish verbs more like Swedish speakers.

Annika Andersson, Frida Blomberg, Linneaus University, Marianne Gullberg, Centre for Languages and Literature, Lund University