Acceptance and Online Interpretation of "Gender-Neutral Pronouns": Performance Asymmetry by Chinese English as a Foreign Language Learners.

ABSTRACT: The present study (N = 109) set out to examine the role of cross-linguistic differences as a source of potential difficulty in the acceptance and online interpretation of the English singular they by Chinese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners across two levels of second-language proficiency. Experiment 1 operationalized performance through an untimed acceptability judgment test and Experiment 2 through a self-paced reading task. Statistical analyses yielded an asymmetric pattern of results. Experiment 1 indicated that unlike native English speakers who generally accepted the singular they with all antecedent types, two Chinese EFL groups consisting of English majors (higher level) and non-English majors (lower level) both rated it as the least acceptable pron

SUBMITTER: Ma Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8925987 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature