Doctoral Dissertation Research: Aspect and Event Cognition in the Acquisition and Processing of a Second Language

博士论文研究：第二语言习得和处理中的方面和事件认知

• 批准号: 2337763
• 负责人: Bonnie Schwartz
• 金额: $ 1.69万
• 依托单位: University of Hawaii
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-03-01 至 2026-02-28
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2337763&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Aspect; Event

In everyday conversations, people often talk about things happening over time or in an instant. For example, one might say "John is building a house" for an event that happens over time" or "John is crossing the finish line" for an instantaneous event. Different languages express time in events differently. To talk about ongoing events in English, speakers use the same -ing form in "John is building a house" and "John is crossing the finish line". In other languages, by contrast, different grammatical markers indicate whether an ongoing event happens over time or instantly. Such differences in how time in events is expressed can be tricky for English speakers learning such languages. This doctoral dissertation project examines difficulties that native English speakers may have when learning how to express time in events in a second language that encodes such differences in the grammar. The study focuses on two things: how the grammar and meanings of such grammatical markers express time in events, and how use of these markers connects to real-world situations. In addition to the training of a graduate student, this research is expected to be beneficial to second-language teachers and inform textbooks. The project provides insights into the challenges speakers face in learning and using different grammatical markers.Three experimental studies investigate knowledge, production, and comprehension of grammatical aspect markers. Study 1 explores whether second language learners know the ways that an aspect-marking language expresses time in events by having them judge the naturalness of sentences with time-in-event markers. Study 2 looks at how these same participants express time in events by having them continue the beginning of written sentences that include a variety of such markers. Study 3 examines how these same learners link spoken sentences containing time-in-event markers to pictures representing events in the world. By comparing results from these studies, the study sheds light on what makes such grammatical markers challenging to learn and use for second language speakers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

在日常对话中，人们经常谈论随着时间或瞬间发生的事情。例如，有人可能会说“John正在建造一座房子”，以应对随着时间推移而发生的事件，或者“John正在越过终点线”，以应对瞬间发生的事件。不同的语言在事件中表示时间的方式不同。为了用英语谈论正在进行的事件，说话者用相同的-ing形式在“John‘s Building a house”和“John’s ver the Finish line”中使用-ing形式。相比之下，在其他语言中，不同的语法标记表示正在进行的事件是随着时间的推移发生的，还是立即发生的。对于学习这种语言的英语使用者来说，在事件中如何表达时间的这种差异可能是微妙的。这个博士论文项目考察了以英语为母语的人在学习如何用第二语言来表达事件中的时间时可能会遇到的困难，第二语言在语法上编码了这种差异。这项研究集中在两个方面：这类语法标记的语法和意义如何在事件中表达时间，以及这些标记的使用如何与现实世界的情况相联系。除了对研究生的培训外，本研究还有望对第二语言教师和教材有所裨益。该项目提供了对说话者在学习和使用不同语法标记时所面临的挑战的见解。三项实验研究调查了语法体标记的知识、产生和理解。研究一通过让第二语言学习者判断带有事件中时间标记的句子的自然性来考察他们是否知道体标记语言在事件中表达时间的方式。研究2考察了这些参与者如何通过让他们继续书写包含各种此类标记的句子的开头来表达事件中的时间。研究3考察了这些学习者如何将包含事件中时间标记的口语句子与代表世界事件的图片联系起来。通过比较这些研究的结果，这项研究揭示了是什么使这些语法标记对第二语言说话者来说具有学习和使用的挑战性。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。