Following an emergentist approach, the authors examined the comprehension of four different types of restrictive relative clauses (direct object/oblique vs. subject/indirect object) with animate/inanimate referents by Iranian EFL learners. To this end, an Oxford placement test and two sets of comprehension tests within a week’s interval were administered. Of the two comprehension tests, one was used to examine the comprehension of direct object/oblique RC’s with inanimate NP referents, and the other one investigated the understanding of subject/indirect object RC’s with animate referents. The results of the first comprehension test showed that there was no significant difference in the comprehension of direct/oblique RC’s with inanimate referents. But the result of the second comprehension test showed their better performance in the subject RC’s than indirect object RC’s with animate referents. The findings of the experiments showed that animacy influenced the processing difficulty of relative clauses which can be considered as a significant reasoning for these preferences or equalities. Current significant theories of relative clause processing can account for these results when additional assumptions are introduced showing that the possibility of semantically driven cues can be considered as a serious alternative.

中文翻译：

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生气和语言熟练程度在伊朗EFL学习者理解英语限制性相对从句中的作用：一种新兴方法

遵循一种新兴主义的方法，作者检查了伊朗EFL学习者对四种不同类型的限制性相对从句（直接宾语/斜语vs.主题/间接宾语）与有生命/无生命指称的理解。为此，在一周的时间间隔内进行了牛津大学入学考试和两组理解测试。在两个理解测试中，一个用于检验对无生命的NP指称对象的直接对象/斜RC的理解，而另一项调查了对对有生命的指称对象的对象/间接对象RC的理解。首次理解测试的结果表明，对直接/倾斜RC与无生命指征的理解没有显着差异。但是第二次理解测试的结果表明，它们在主题RC上的表现优于带有动画对象的间接对象RC。实验结果表明，动画影响了从句的加工难度，这被认为是这些偏好或等式的重要原因。当引入额外的假设表明语义驱动线索的可能性可以被认为是一种严重的选择时，当前有关从句处理的重要理论可以解释这些结果。