A Comparative Study on the Cognitive Processing of Korean Double Negative Sentences by Native Speakers and Advanced Learners

This study examines how native Korean speakers and advanced L2 learners process double negative sentences, in which two negative elements co-occur to yield a positive interpretation. A self-paced reading task was conducted using 16 syntactic types of Korean double negation, analyzing both accuracy and reaction times. Results indicated that native speakers consistently showed higher accuracy and faster processing speeds than learners, with statistically significant differences emerging in structures like 'an-ci mot-hada' and 'mol-ci anh-da'. Learners exhibited delayed reaction times particularly at the point where the second negator appeared, reflecting increased cognitive load during semantic integration. This effect was more pronounced in structures that occur infrequently in authentic input. These findings demonstrate that double negation remains a challenging construction even for advanced learners, highlighting the need for explicit instruction that addresses both structural form and pragmatic function in Korean language education.