Rational inference over a noisy channel can potentially explain readers’ occasional misreading. We tested if the prior probability of an intended message modulates the rate of misreading a transposed-word sentence as grammatical. In Experiment 1 we manipulated the cloze probability of a word given its full context (Because my socks had holes, I bought a new pair/pack) but found no reliable effect on the rate of noticing word transpositions (pair new vs. pack new). In Experiment 2 we manipulated the 4-gram frequency of the sequence ending with the transposed words and again found no effect (I always know what mean they vs. love they). We conclude readers do not effectively exploit full-context information to derive nonliteral messages. Despite the results of Experiment 2, comparison of error rates across conditions in several experiments suggests a role for local ngram statistics, though perhaps only in a restricted range of ngram frequency.

Whether non-native speakers’ on-line processing can be native-like remains a hot issue. Recently many have shownthat qualitatively native-like processing is attainable, especially for learners with high proficiency. However, most of the studiesrecruited learners who had been immersed to the English-speaking country. The current study investigated processing of filler-gap dependency and island constraints for Chinese learners of English as a second but foreign language. We also attempted tolook into individual differences by taking different variables into account. The results showed that native-like active gap-fillingstrategy positively correlated with L2 proficiency, native-like island effect negatively correlated with age of acquisition, butneither one correlated with working memory capacity. These findings lent more support to the grammar-based account forisland effects, though future studies adopting more precise measure of working memory would be needed. The study alsocalled for further investigation into L1 background on processing islands in an L2.