Processing of Person and Number features in Turkish: An Event Related Potentials Study

Agreement is one of the most important as well as the most studied linguistic features in the field of language processing. There are two views regarding the processing of Person and Number features. According to the first view, Person and Number features are defined as distinct probes in derivation, while the latter view suggests that these features are bundle features. The current study investigated whether there is any difference in the processing of Person and Number features in Turkish via ERP. The findings indicated that the N400 + P600 pattern was obtained in the processing of both Person and Number features, but a greater N400 amplitude was elicited in Person feature than in the Number feature. The findings are in line with the views suggesting that there are differences in the processing of Person and Number features.