Factors affecting English-speaking learners’ acquisition of Chinese relative clauses with demonstrative classifier phrases
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Hui-Ming Lois Du
Hui-Ming Lois Du received her master’s degree from the Linguistics program of the English Department at National Taiwan Normal University. She is currently working as a freelance online English teacher.
Chun-Yin Doris Chen is a Distinguished Professor of the Department of English at National Taiwan Normal University. Her research interests cover first/second language acquisition, teaching Chinese as a second language, syntax-semantics interface and speech acts. Her service to the field of linguistics includes membership on the advisory councils of foundation projects on L2 Chinese language policy, and refereeing for grant proposals, conferences and journals.
Fang-Yen Hsieh is a Lecturer at Princeton University. She received her Doctoral degree from the University of Cambridge. She was awarded the MOST Young Scholar Fellowship by the Taiwanese Ministry of Science and Technology in 2019 when she taught at National Taiwan Normal University. Her research interests include Chinese linguistics, second language acquisition and psycholinguistics.
Abstract
The current empirical research aimed to investigate native English-speaking learners’ acquisition of Chinese relative clauses (RCs) by conducting two studies. Study I explored the participants’ performance on gapped and gapless relative clauses (RCs) and their interpretation of demonstrative classifier (DCL)-relative clauses. Study II further investigated the participants’ interpretation of DCL-first and DCL-second RCs and discussed contextual effect. Different tasks were designed in the two studies: a sentence-unscrambling (SU) task and an acceptability judgement (AJ) task in Study I; and an interpretation (IT) task in Study II. A total of 20 L2 learners and 20 native speakers of Mandarin participated in our research. The overall results obtained from Study I revealed that gapped RCs were easier to produce and accept than gapless RCs, and learner performance was influenced by DCL position. Moreover, the L2 learners’ L1 knowledge was found to affect their production, but the task effect was not significant. In Study II, DCL-first RCs were found to be as difficult as DCL-second RCs for the L2 learners to interpret. The non-restrictive and restrictive interpretations of DCL-first RCs were found to be much more comprehensible. Finally, the L2 learners’ interpretation of RCs having DCL phrases in different positions showed a tendency of a contextual effect.
摘要
本文旨在探討以英語為母語者對於中文關係子句的學習情況。本研究包括了兩個實驗。實驗一旨在研究受試者對於空位關係子句及非空位關係子句的表現, 研究議題包括指示量詞位序的影響, 母語轉移及題型效應。實驗二深入探究了受試者對於指示量詞前置與指示量詞後置的賓語關係子句的理解, 同時也探討了受試者的習得表現是否受到語境效應的影響。實驗一採用了句子生成測驗及可接受度測驗。實驗二採用了理解測驗, 該測驗分為三部分, 每部分包含不同的語境類型。本研究共招募了二十位在國立台灣師範大學國語中心學習中文的英語為母語的學生及二十位母語人士。首先, 實驗一發現對於二語學習者來說, 空位關係子句相較於非空位關係子句更容易產出及接受, 指示量詞位序影響受試者的表現。二語學習者在產出時受到母語影響, 但題型效應並不顯著。實驗二發現, 受試者對指示量詞前置的賓語關係子句與指示量詞後置的賓語關係子句的理解難度一致。指示量詞前置的賓語關係子句可能存在非限定與限定的理解。最後, 研究發現受試者對不同位序的指示量詞之關係子句的理解容易受到語境效應影響。
About the authors
Hui-Ming Lois Du received her master’s degree from the Linguistics program of the English Department at National Taiwan Normal University. She is currently working as a freelance online English teacher.
Chun-Yin Doris Chen is a Distinguished Professor of the Department of English at National Taiwan Normal University. Her research interests cover first/second language acquisition, teaching Chinese as a second language, syntax-semantics interface and speech acts. Her service to the field of linguistics includes membership on the advisory councils of foundation projects on L2 Chinese language policy, and refereeing for grant proposals, conferences and journals.
Fang-Yen Hsieh is a Lecturer at Princeton University. She received her Doctoral degree from the University of Cambridge. She was awarded the MOST Young Scholar Fellowship by the Taiwanese Ministry of Science and Technology in 2019 when she taught at National Taiwan Normal University. Her research interests include Chinese linguistics, second language acquisition and psycholinguistics.
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Research funding: This work was financially supported by the Chinese Language and Technology Center of National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan.
Appendix A: Test items used in Study I
A. The sentence-unscrambling task
| Items | 題目 |
|---|---|
| 1 | 那個 是美國人 王五拜訪的 爺爺 |
| ① ② ③ ④ | |
| 2 | 還沒有公佈 成績 那個 運動員比賽的 |
| ① ② ③ ④ | |
| 3 | 壞了 王五剛買的 那隻 筆 |
| ① ② ③ ④ | |
| 4 | 小寶寶爬行的 這個 動作 很好笑 |
| ① ② ③ ④ | |
| 5 | 已經結婚了 老朋友 李四遇到的 這位 |
| ① ② ③ ④ | |
| 6 | 很好聽 聲音 那個 阿姨唱歌的 |
| ① ② ③ ④ | |
| 7 | 同學 成績很好 老師幫助的 這位 |
| ① ② ③ ④ | |
| 8 | 這個 速度 小偷跑步的 比警察快 |
| ① ② ③ ④ |
B. The acceptability judgment task
| 1 |
|
2 |
|
| 那位小朋友喜歡的老師脾氣很好。 | 這個小朋友跑步的速度太慢了。 | ||
| 3 |
|
4 |
|
| 那個運動員游泳的成績越來越好了。 | 老師教過的那位學生現在是很出名的科學家。 | ||
| 5 |
|
6 |
|
| 這個碗裝著的麵包壞了。 | 小女孩讀書的那個聲音很溫柔。 | ||
| 7 |
|
8 |
|
| 爸爸喜歡的這位畫家要來台灣開畫展。 | 小朋友吃完的這個麵包很好看。 |
Appendix B: Test items used in Study II
Part I. Context-free
| 1 |
|
這個小朋友跑步的速度太慢了。 |
| Q1: 請問什麼很慢? | ||
| A. 速度 B. 小朋友 C. 速度或小朋友 | ||
| Q2: 請問「這個」指的是什麼? | ||
| A. 速度或小朋友 B. 小朋友 C. 速度 | ||
| 2 |
|
那位小朋友喜歡的老師脾氣很好。 |
| Q1: 請問誰脾氣很好? | ||
| A. 老師 B. 小朋友 C. 老師或小朋友 Q2: 請問「那位」指的是誰? | ||
| A. 老師 B. 小朋友 C. 老師或小朋友 | ||
| 3 |
|
那個運動員游泳的成績越來越好了。 |
| Q1: 請問什麼越來越好了? | ||
| A. 運動員 B. 成績 C. 運動員或成績 | ||
| Q2: 請問「那個」指的是什麼? | ||
| A. 成績 B. 運動員 C. 運動員或成績 | ||
| 4 |
|
爸爸喜歡的這位畫家要來台灣開畫展。請問誰要來台灣開畫展? |
| A. 畫家或爸爸 B. 畫家 C. 爸爸 | ||
| 5 |
|
這個碗裝著的麵包壞了。 |
| Q1: 請問什麼壞了? | ||
| A. 碗 B. 麵包 C. 碗或麵包 | ||
| Q2: 請問「這個」指的是什麼? | ||
| A. 碗或麵包 B. 麵包 C. 碗 | ||
| 6 |
|
小女孩讀書的那個聲音很特別。請問什麼很溫柔? |
| A. 聲音 B.小女孩 C. 小女孩或聲音 | ||
| 7 |
|
小朋友吃完的這個麵包很好看。請問什麼很好看? |
| A. 小朋友或麵包 B. 麵包 C. 小朋友 | ||
| 8 |
|
老師教過的那位學生現在是很出名的科學家。請問誰是很出名的科學家? |
| A. 學生 B. 老師或學生 C. 老師 |
Part II. Biasing context
| 1 |
|
早上媽媽用一個質量很不好, 很容易碎的玻璃碗裝著麵包。這個碗裝著的麵包壞了。 |
| Q1: 請問什麼壞了? | ||
| A. 碗 B. 麵包 C. 碗或麵包 | ||
| Q2: 請問「這個」指的是什麼? | ||
| A. 碗或麵包 B. 麵包 C. 碗 | ||
| 2 |
|
小朋友的腳受傷了, 行動不方便。這個小朋友跑步的速度太慢了。 |
| Q1: 請問什麼很慢? | ||
| A. 速度 B. 小朋友 C. 速度或小朋友 | ||
| Q2: 請問「這個」指的是什麼? | ||
| A. 速度或小朋友 B. 小朋友 C. 速度 | ||
| 3 |
|
有一個小朋友在幼稚園非常聽老師的話。被其他小朋友欺負了, 也不會跟他們吵架。那位小朋友喜歡的老師脾氣很好。 |
| Q1: 請問誰脾氣很好? | ||
| A. 小朋友 B. 老師 C.老師或小朋友 | ||
| Q2: 請問「那位」指的是誰? | ||
| A. 老師 B. 老師或小朋友 C. 小朋友 | ||
| 4 |
|
運動員很努力練習,每天練習時間超過八個小時。那個運動員游泳的成績越來越好了。 |
| Q1: 請問什麼越來越好了? | ||
| A. 運動員 B. 成績 C. 運動員或成績 | ||
| Q2: 請問「那個」指的是什麼? | ||
| A. 成績 B. 運動員 C. 運動員或成績 | ||
| 5 |
|
小女孩很害羞,平時講話都很小聲。小女孩讀書的那個聲音很特別。 |
| 請問什麼很特別? | ||
| A. 聲音 B.小女孩 C. 小女孩或聲音 | ||
| 6 |
|
爸爸是很出名的畫家, 經常開自己的畫展。平時他也喜歡去看別的畫家的畫展, 爸爸喜歡的這位畫家要來台灣開畫展。 |
| 請問誰要來台灣開畫展? | ||
| A. 畫家或爸爸 B. 畫家 C. 爸爸 | ||
| 7 |
|
小朋友有一雙大大的眼睛,笑起來又很可愛。小朋友吃完的這個麵包很好看。 |
| 請問什麼很好看? | ||
| A. 小朋友或麵包 B. 麵包 C. 小朋友 | ||
| 8 |
|
老師在學校做了很多研究, 發明了很多設備。也教過很多學生。老師教過的那位學生現在是很出名的科學家。 |
| 請問誰是很出名的科學家? | ||
| A. 學生 B. 老師或學生 C. 老師 |
Part III. Supporting context
| 1 |
|
每個人的聲音都不太一樣。小女孩讀書的那個聲音很特別。 |
| 請問什麼很特別? | ||
| A. 聲音 B. 小女孩 C. 小女孩或聲音 | ||
| 2 |
|
張三忘記吃媽媽買回來的麵包了,它放在冰箱里兩個禮拜了。這個碗裝著的麵包壞了。 |
| Q1: 請問什麼壞了? | ||
| A. 碗 B. 麵包 C. 碗或麵包 | ||
| Q2: 請問「這個」指的是什麼? | ||
| A. 碗或麵包 B. 麵包 C. 碗 | ||
| 3 |
|
速度快的人可以得到老師的禮物。這個小朋友跑步的速度太慢了。 |
| Q1: 請問什麼很慢? | ||
| A. 速度 B. 小朋友 C. 速度或小朋友 | ||
| Q2: 請問「這個」指的是什麼? | ||
| A. 速度或小朋友 B. 小朋友 C. 速度 | ||
| 4 |
|
老師一定要有耐心, 有小朋友犯錯也不可以生氣。那位小朋友喜歡的老師脾氣很好。 |
| Q1: 請問誰脾氣很好? | ||
| A. 老師或小朋友 B. 小朋友 C. 老師 | ||
| Q2: 請問「那位」指的是誰? | ||
| A.老師或小朋友 B. 小朋友 C. 老師 | ||
| 5 |
|
畫家很喜歡開畫展, 因為這樣可以讓更多人看到並且喜歡他的作品。爸爸喜歡的這位畫家要來台灣開畫展。 |
| 請問誰要來台灣開畫展? | ||
| A. 畫家或爸爸 B. 畫家 C. 爸爸 | ||
| 6 |
|
成績很重要, 如果成績好, 就能去參加比賽。那個運動員游泳的成績越來越好了。 |
| Q1: 請問什麼越來越好了? | ||
| A. 運動員 B. 成績 C. 運動員或成績 | ||
| Q2: 請問「那個」指的是什麼? | ||
| A. 成績 B. 運動員 C. 運動員或成績 | ||
| 7 |
|
有個學生以前很喜歡科學知識, 很喜歡跟老師討論很多科學問題。老師教過的那位學生現在是很出名的科學家。 |
| 請問誰是很出名的科學家? | ||
| A. 學生 B. 老師或學生 C. 老師 | ||
| 8 |
|
麵包上面有印花, 很可愛, 所以小朋友很喜歡吃。小朋友吃完的這個麵包很好看。 |
| 請問什麼很好看? | ||
| A. 小朋友或麵包 B. 麵包 C. 小朋友 |
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© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Papers in English
- Factors affecting English-speaking learners’ acquisition of Chinese relative clauses with demonstrative classifier phrases
- The effects of L1, task, and classifier type in Chinese-L2 learners’ use of classifiers
- Pedagogical issues related to the adverb dou [都] in Mandarin Chinese
- Papers in Chinese
- 温岭方言感叹范畴的标记手段及相关问题
- 西班牙中学汉语教师课堂语码转换的个案研究
- 泰國學習者之漢語 “給” 字句偏誤分析
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Papers in English
- Factors affecting English-speaking learners’ acquisition of Chinese relative clauses with demonstrative classifier phrases
- The effects of L1, task, and classifier type in Chinese-L2 learners’ use of classifiers
- Pedagogical issues related to the adverb dou [都] in Mandarin Chinese
- Papers in Chinese
- 温岭方言感叹范畴的标记手段及相关问题
- 西班牙中学汉语教师课堂语码转换的个案研究
- 泰國學習者之漢語 “給” 字句偏誤分析
