"Doctoral Dissertation Research: Verb Learning and the Acquisition of Aspect: Rethinking Universality of Aspect and the Significance of L1 Transfer"

是什么决定了第二语言体习得的顺序？以往关于二语体习得的研究揭示了普遍的发展模式（体假设），其特点是语法体的强关联（即，由体标记表达的时间意义，例如英语进行体be + Verb-ing）和固有的词汇体（即，动词固有的时间意义）。然而，迄今为止，这种发展模式还没有得到充分的理论解释。此外，与语法体的跨语言差异不同，词汇体的差异及其对二语体习得的影响在以往的研究中往往被忽视。 词汇体的跨语言变异程度如何？ L1-L2在词体方面的差异是否会给L2学习者带来困难？在白井康弘博士的指导下，西由美子女士将在她的博士论文中讨论这些问题。通过将日语、汉语、韩语和英语中100个最常见的动词分为四个词体类（状态、活动、完成和成就），然后比较它们在不同语言中的分布，来研究词体的跨语言差异。第二项研究探讨了L1-L2的词汇体差异在多大程度上影响了L2习得的方面，通过比较L2收购的非完成体teiru在日语中的多个L1组（中国，韩国和英语）的三个水平。在美国进行了一系列实验，包括口译匹配任务和图片描述任务，台湾和韩国，分别适用于L1英语、中文和韩语组。 据预测，二语日语学习者会发现，更难以确定一个句子的体意义，涉及跨语言的差异，在词汇方面比只有语法方面的L1-L2不匹配。本研究的结果将有助于体的理论研究，以及二语习得的理论问题，特别是体假设和母语迁移。研究结果将有助于二语教学。

What determines the order of acquisition of aspect in a second language (L2)? Previous studies on the L2 acquisition of aspect have revealed universal patterns of development (the Aspect Hypothesis) characterized by the strong association of grammatical aspect (i.e., temporal meaning expressed by aspectual markers, such as English progressive be + Verb-ing) and inherent lexical aspect (i.e., temporal meaning intrinsic to verbs). However, to date, such developmental patterns have not received a full theoretical explanation. Furthermore, unlike cross-linguistic differences observed in grammatical aspect, differences on the part of lexical aspect, and accordingly their influence on the L2 acquisition of aspect, have often been disregarded in previous literature. To what extent is there cross-linguistic variation in lexical aspect? Do L1-L2 discrepancies in lexical aspect cause difficulty for L2 learners? Under the direction of Dr. Yasuhiro Shirai, Ms.Yumiko Nishi will address these issues for her doctoral dissertation. The cross-linguistic differences in lexical aspect will be investigated by classifying the 100 most frequent verbs in Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and English into four lexical aspect classes (state, activity, accomplishment, and achievement) and then comparing their distribution across languages. A second study investigates the extent to which L1-L2 discrepancy in lexical aspect affects the L2 acquisition of aspect by comparing the L2 acquisition of imperfective aspect teiru in Japanese by multiple L1 groups (Chinese, Korean, and English) with three proficiency levels. A series of experiments involving an interpretation matching task and a picture description task will be carried out in the U.S.A., Taiwan, and Korea, for L1 English, Chinese, and Korean groups, respectively. It is predicted that L2 learners of Japanese will find it more difficult to determine the aspectual meaning of a sentence that involves cross-linguistic discrepancy in lexical aspect than when there is L1-L2 mismatch only in grammatical aspect. The results of this research project will contribute to theoretical studies on aspect, as well as to theoretical issues in second language acquisition, in particular the Aspect Hypothesis and L1 transfer. The findings will contribute to L2 pedagogy.