Second Language Acquisition of Chinese Wh-words as Universal Quantifiers by English and Japanese Speakers

英语和日语使用者对汉语 Wh 词作为通用量词的第二语言习得

• 批准号: AH/E005322/1
• 负责人: Boping Yuan
• 金额: $ 1.98万
• 依托单位: University of Cambridge
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2007 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=AH%2FE005322%2F1
• 关键词: Second; Language; Acquisition; Chinese; Wh

It is a common phenomenon that unlike children who acquire their mother tongues almost effortlessly, few adults are able to acquire native-like competence when they learn a second language. However, not every part of the target language grammar poses a problem to adult second language learners; some are acquired earlier than others, some appear to be acquired but have to undergo restructuring at a later stage, and some seem to be unacquirable throughout the acquisition process. This project aims to find out to what extent English and Japanese adult learners of Chinese are able to acquire Chinese wh-words (i.e. the Chinese equivalents of 'who, what, where, when') as universal quantifiers (i.e. the Chinese equivalents of 'everyone, everything, everywhere, every time'). In English, wh-words (i.e. words such as 'who, what, where, when') are generally used as interrogative words to form wh-questions (although some of them can also be used as relative pronouns to introduce relative clauses). Wh-words in Chinese, apart from being used as interrogative words, can also be used as universal quantifiers but they have to be licensed by a functional word 'dou'. Another constraint is that the wh-word has to appear/move adjacent to the left of 'dou'. The functional word 'Dou' licenses the wh-word to its left as a universal quantifier. Japanese wh-words can also be used as universal quantifiers, but they have to be combined with a particle '-mo', as in 'dare' (=who) ---> 'dare-mo' (=everyone) and 'doko' (=where) ---> 'doko-mo' (=everywhere). There is no requirement for licensee movement in Japanese sentences. Here Chinese is different from Japanese in that the licenser-licensee relationship is at the clausal level in Chinese but at the noun-phrase level in Japanese. Obviously, English wh-words cannot be used as universal quantifiers and therefore the licenser-licensee relationship does not exist in English. The contrasts between these three languages raise interesting research questions about second language (L2) acquisition of Chinese, and the project aims to find answers to the following questions:1. Can Chinese wh-words be interpreted as universal quantifiers by English speakers? 2. Is it possible to establish the licenser-licensee relationship in English speakers' L2 Chinese grammars? Will the licensee move to the left of the licenser in their L2 Chinese grammars, as required in the native Chinese grammar? 3. To what extent does the first language transfer play a role in L2 acquisition of Chinese wh-words as universal quantifiers. Do Japanese learners have advantages over English learners in acquiring this aspect of Chinese grammar? 4. Can Japanese learners expand the licensing scope from the noun phrase level and establish the licenser-licensee relationship at the clause level? 5. Will they be able to raise the licensee to the left of the licenser in their L2 Chinese Grammars? English- and Japanese-speaking learners of Chinese from the beginner level to the advanced level (including professors and lecturers teaching Chinese in universities) will be included as subjects for the projects. By doing so I want to examine the developmental patterns of English and Japanese learners' acquisition of the aspects of the Chinese grammar concerned. This will also enable me to investigate the initial and the final states of learners' L2 Chinese grammars. The findings from this empirical study are to be disseminated to teachers of Chinese as a second language, L2 Chinese textbook writers, L2 Chinese syllabus designers, L2 Chinese examination designers, etc.

这是一个普遍的现象，与几乎毫不费力地获得母语的儿童不同，很少有成年人能够在学习第二语言时获得类似母语的能力。然而，并不是目标语言语法的每一个部分都会给成人第二语言学习者带来问题；有些是比其他人更早习得的，有些似乎是习得的，但在后来的阶段必须进行重组，还有一些似乎在整个习得过程中是无法习得的。本项目旨在了解英语和日本的成年汉语学习者在多大程度上能够习得汉语wh词(即汉语中对应的“谁、什么、哪里、何时”)作为通用量词(即，汉语中对应的“Everyone、Everything、Everywhere、Everytime”)。在英语中，wh-词(如：谁，什么，哪里，何时)通常用作疑问词，构成wh-疑问句(尽管其中一些也可以用作关系代词来引导关系从句)。汉语中的wh-词除了可以用作疑问词外，还可以用作全称量词，但必须经过一个虚词‘都’的许可。另一个限制是wh-单词必须出现/移动到‘dou’的左边。虚词“都”许可左边的wh-词作为全称量词。日语的wh词也可以用作全称量词，但它们必须与助词‘-mo’结合，例如‘dale’(=谁)-&gt；‘dale-mo’(=所有人)和‘doko’(=where)-&gt；‘doko-mo’(=Everywhere)。日语句子中没有对持证人移动的要求。在这里，汉语与日语的不同之处在于，许可人与被许可人的关系在汉语中处于从句层面，而在日语中处于名词短语层面。显然，英语wh-词不能用作通用量词，因此英语中不存在许可者和被许可者的关系。这三种语言的反差引发了关于汉语二语习得的有趣的研究问题，该项目旨在寻找以下问题的答案：1.汉语的wh-词能否被英语使用者解释为通用量词？2.在英语使用者的二语汉语语法中能否建立许可者-被许可者的关系？被许可者是否会按照母语汉语语法的要求，在他们的二语语法中移到许可者的左边？3.第一语言迁移在作为通用量词的第二语言习得中起到多大的作用？在习得这方面的汉语语法方面，日语学习者是否比英语学习者更有优势？4.日语学习者能否从名词短语层面扩大许可范围，并在小句层面建立许可者与被许可者之间的关系？5.他们能否在二语汉语语法中将被许可者提升到许可者的左边？从初级到高级的英语和日语汉语学习者(包括在大学教授汉语的教授和讲师)将作为项目的科目。通过这样做，我想考察英语和日语学习者习得汉语语法方面的发展模式。这也将使我能够调查学习者的二语语法的声母和韵母状态。这项实证研究的结果将被传播给作为第二语言的汉语教师、第二语言汉语教材编写者、第二语言汉语教学大纲设计者、第二语言汉语考试设计者等。