The present study uses event-related potentials (ERPs) to examine nonlocal agreement processing between native (L1) English speakers and Chinese–English second language (L2) learners, whose L1 lacks number agreement. We manipulated number marking with determiners (the vs. that/these) to see how determiner-specification influences both native and nonnative processing downstream for verbal number agreement. Behavioral and ERP results suggest both groups detected nonlocal agreement violations, indexed by a P600 effect. Moreover, the manipulation of determiner-number specification revealed a facilitation effect across the board in both grammaticality judgment and ERP responses for both groups: increased judgment accuracy and a larger P600 effect amplitude for sentences containing violations with demonstratives rather than bare determiners. Contrary to some claims regarding the potential for nonnative processing, the present data suggest that L1 and L2 speakers show similar ERP responses when processing agreement, even when the L1 lacks the relevant distinction.

本研究使用事件相关电位 (ERP) 来检查母语 (L1) 英语使用者和汉英第二语言 (L2) 学习者之间的非本地协议处理，他们的 L1 缺乏数字协议。我们用限定词（the vs. that/these) 以查看确定器规范如何影响口头数字协议的本地和非本地处理下游。行为和 ERP 结果表明两组都检测到非局部协议违规，由 P600 效应索引。此外，对限定词数量规范的操纵揭示了对这两个群体的语法判断和 ERP 响应的全面促进作用：增加了判断准确性和更大的 P600 效应幅度，其中包含违反指示词而不是纯粹的限定词的句子。与一些关于非母语处理的可能性的说法相反，目前的数据表明，L1 和 L2 说话者在处理协议时表现出相似的 ERP 反应，即使 L1 缺乏相关区别。