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The present study attempts to investigate parsing preferences (early vs. late closure) of native and L2 learners of both English and Persian when they read ambiguous relative clauses. The purpose is to find out if L2 learners process L2 linguistic input in the way monolingual speakers of that language do. The participants took tests including 10 test sentences plus 10 distractors, each followed by a comprehension question. Monolingual speakers of Persian and English were provided with tests in their own language, while bilinguals were provided with tests in their second language. Results showed a significant preference of monolingual Persian speakers for high attachment to relative clause (early closure), whereas monolingual English speakers showed a high preference for low attachment (late closure). The results also indicated that bilinguals adopted the same parsing strategy used in their L1, suggesting that their L1 might be influencing their L2 processing. The results are discussed in terms of the implications they may have for ultimate attainment in L2.

Keywords: parsing preferences, ambiguous relative clauses, early vs. late closure, high attachment vs. low attachment, parsing strategies in L1 and L2, monolingual English and Persian speakers, bilinguals

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