Exploring the Speed of Relating Relative Clauses to Heads: A Comparison of Native Persian Speakers and Persian Language Learners

Undoubtedly, mental and conceptual complexities are reflected in the language, as well. Relative clauses are a sample of mental and conceptual complexities which in recent decades,many studies have tried to decode their perception and representation patterns. This topic becomes even more important when it is concerned with teaching language. In the present research, in order to facilitate the teaching of relative clauses, especially to non-native Persian language learners, four kinds of relative clauses including: subject-subject, subject-object, object-object, and object-subject were studied. Perception speed of several forms of each pattern was measured through a computer-based test and twosoftware programs calledMulti Timer Ultimatespeedometerand Snagitscreen capture. The results of the two groups were compared. The data were analyzed through SPSS software (Version 23) and the results indicated that there was no significant difference betweenfour types of relative clauses in terms of perception speed; that is, there wasno relationship between perception speed and the type of relative clause, and both native Persian speakers and Persian language learners can understand these four types of relative clauses at a relatively similar time frame; but the choice of the type was related to being a native Persian speaker or a Persian language learner.