Project Production of Relative Clauses by Second Language Speakers of English Program Margo Katherine Wilke Undergraduate Research Internship Program Term Fall 2024 Status Closed Research Area linguistics, second language acquisition, language production Description This project investigates how advanced second language speakers of English who are native speakers of Mandarin Chinese use relative clauses when describing a picture of an object, person, or animal. For example, in response to a picture of a punching bag that a woman is punching, what do they say? Three possible choices are expected: (1) active structure "the bag that the woman is punching"; or (2) passive structure with agent omitted "the bag that is being punched"; or (3) passive structure with agent included "the bag that is being punched by the woman". Previous research has shown that native speakers of English make different choices depending on whether the picture is depicts something that is animate (person or animal) or inanimate (object). Specifically, native speakers were more likely to the active structure in (1). However, when describing a man instead of a bag, they were more likely to choose the passive structure as in (2) or (3). The current study, led by PhD student Yue Li, investigates how advanced second language speakers of English choose between different options for relative clauses when describing pictures. This work will test whether second language learners of English who are native speakers of Mandarin Chinese and Spanish are sensitive to animacy in the same way as native speakers of English, and whether their native language background has any influence on their responses. Native speakers of Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and English will be recruited to participate in this study. Supervisor Elaine J Francis Mentor Yue Li Type of work required In the fall 2024 semester, the undergraduate intern would assist with project design in the following ways: (1) helping to pilot test the experiment (2) recruitment of participants (3) transcription and coding of spoken responses. Websites https://cla.purdue.edu/english/francislab/ Qualifications The intern should have some background in linguistics (at least one previous course). Specific knowledge of the experiment procedures and software is not needed in advance and will be trained. Credit Hours 2 Weekly Hours 6 (estimated)