Object-extracted Preference in the Processing of Chinese (L1) Relative Clause
Huili Wang · 2025
This study investigates the processing of different types of Chinese (Mandarin) relative clauses (RCs) using event-related potentials (ERPs). The focus is on subject-extracted and object-extracted RCs, examining both subject and object modifiers. The findings reveal a preference for object-extracted RCs (SOR and OOR). To be specific, ERP results show a stronger P600 effect in SSR compared to SOR, suggesting a preference for canonical sentence structures. N400 effects were more pronounced in verbs than nouns, reflecting easier noun comprehension. In addition, the study found that OSR showed stronger N400 and P600 effects compared to OOR, highlighting the influence of meaning interference and the preference for canonical strategies. Overall, the results suggest that sentence processing in Mandarin is influenced by both universal and language-specific factors.