When Prosody Fails to Guide Parsing: The Processing of Ambiguous Sentences by Chinese EFL Learners

This study examines how Chinese EFL learners integrate prosodic and syntactic cues when processing temporarily ambiguous subject-object sentences. Two self-paced reading experiments manipulated verbal aspect (progressive vs. simple past) and prosody-syntax alignment (match vs. mismatch). Results revealed a consistent late closure bias and no effect of verbal aspect on parsing. Contrary to the Boundary Deletion Hypothesis, learners found it more difficult to insert a prosodic boundary during reanalysis than to delete one. These findings suggest limited prosody-syntax integration in L2 processing and highlight the cognitive challenges of syntactic revision in non-native comprehension.