Unexpected objects increase name use: effects of implicit causality and grammatical role on L2 referential production

Abstract L2 processing accounts differ in how predictability (i.e., the likelihood of the next mention) affects referential form choice. This study examined whether L2 learners use predictability when selecting referential forms. A story continuation experiment, manipulating grammatical role and verbs’ implicit causality (IC), tested Japanese learners of English and L1-English speakers. Learners produced fewer pronouns than L1 speakers, consistent with cross-linguistic influence from L1 Japanese. Across groups, grammatical role strongly influenced referential form choice, whereas IC-based predictability affected object references only, specifically increasing the use of names for unexpected objects. Overall, L1 and L2 speakers showed similar effects of predictability, but the effects were more limited and form-specific than grammatical role effects. Under the present task conditions, the findings are compatible with a graded, memory-interference account: Predictability is used when cues are accessible and retrieval demands are modest, yielding similar patterns in L1 and L2 referential production.