Doctoral Dissertation Research: the Acquisition of Tone in a Second Language

博士论文研究：第二语言声调的习得

• 批准号: 1451687
• 负责人: Elizabeth Zsiga
• 金额: $ 1.51万
• 依托单位: Georgetown University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-06-01 至 2017-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1451687&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Acquisition; Tone

Much research over the past several decades has been dedicated to studying the challenges and successes of learning an additional language beyond one's native tongue. However, this body of research has focused on just a handful of well-known Indo-European and East Asian languages, which account for less than 1% of the world's 6-7,000 languages. A consequence is that little is known about the acquisition of many linguistic features. One such feature is tone, the use of pitch to distinguish words. This gap is especially unfortunate given that over half of the world's languages are tone languages, and that second language speakers of tone languages are increasing in number, both in the U.S. (as more people choose to study Mandarin Chinese, for instance) and worldwide, often due to language revitalization efforts in parts of the world where tone languages abound. In both contexts, second language speakers often struggle to produce and perceive tone, even when they are otherwise considered to be competent speakers of the language. New research is needed in order to uncover the differences and difficulties involved in acquiring tones. As a case study, this dissertation examines the acquisition of tone among adolescents learning Sierra Juarez Zapotec, an endangered language traditionally spoken in San Pablo Macuiltianguis (Oaxaca, Mexico). The learners are native Spanish speakers studying Zapotec as a second language through a language revitalization program. Six months of video and audio-recorded Zapotec classroom data will be transcribed and analyzed in order to examine tone learning over time. This approach allows current theories of second language acquisition to be evaluated. In particular, the study tests a frequency-driven theory of second language acquisition: the claim that the more frequently a learner is exposed to a linguistic feature, the easier that feature will be to learn. It also explores factors that mediate this frequency effect when it comes to tone learning.

在过去的几十年中，许多研究一直致力于研究以外的母语以外的其他语言的挑战和成功。但是，这项研究仅着眼于少数几个著名的印欧语和东亚语言，这些语言不到全球6-7,000种语言的1％。结果是，对许多语言特征的获取知之甚少。这样的功能是音调，使用音调区分单词。鉴于世界上超过一半的语言是语调语言，而且语调语言的数量越来越多，在美国（例如，越来越多的人都选择研究普通话中文）和全球，通常是由于世界各地语言语言的语言振兴工作，因此，这种差距尤其不幸。在这两种情况下，第二语言的说话者通常都在努力产生和感知语气，即使他们被认为是该语言的有能力的演讲者。为了发现获取音调的差异和困难，需要进行新的研究。作为一个案例研究，本论文研究了青少年学习塞拉·华雷斯·扎普特克（Sierra Juarez Zapotec）的语气的获取，这是一种传统上在圣巴勃罗·麦克苏尔蒂安圭夫人（墨西哥瓦哈卡）所说的濒危语言。学习者是通过语言振兴计划将Zapotec作为第二语言的西班牙语人士。为了随着时间的流逝，将对六个月的视频和音频录制的Zapotec课堂数据进行转录和分析。这种方法允许评估当前的第二语言习得理论。特别是，该研究测试了第二语言获取的频率驱动理论：声称学习者越频繁地接触语言特征，该功能就越容易学习。它还探讨了在语气学习方面介导这种频率效应的因素。