A referential/quantified asymmetry in the second language acquisition of English reflexives by Chinese-speaking learners

Lin, Jiang

doi:10.1177/0267658309349435

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…In our examination of the acquisition of locality constraints we took into consideration the possibility that Korean speakers could be influenced by the interaction between locality and clausal syntactic properties (finite or non-finite) and that learners' choices may be influenced by properties which are specific to each of these two clause structures Finer & Broselow (1986), Finer (1991, Matsumura (1994), Akiyama (2002) andJiang (2009). For instance, Finer & Broselow (1986) briefly explain how participants may have analysed the non-finite clauses as mono-clauses, so they may have treated the first NP as a subject and the second NP as an object.…”

Section: Individual Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…BT has subsequently been of central importance in developing our understanding of the specific role played by UG in the acquisition of non-native grammars (e.g. Finer & Broselow 1986;Hirakawa 1990;Finer 1991;Bennett 1994;Eckman 1994;Lakshmanan & Teranishi 1994;Thomas 1989Thomas , 1991Thomas , 1995White 1995;Wakabayashi 1996;Bennett & Progovac 1998;MacLaughlin 1998;Yip & Tang 1998;Yuan 1998;Ying 1999;Jiang 2009). …”

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confidence: 99%

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Untangling Locality and Orientation Constraints in the L2 Acquisition of Anaphoric Binding: A Feature-Based Approach

Domínguez

Hicks

Song

2012

Language Acquisition

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This study offers a Minimalist analysis of the L2 acquisition of binding properties whereby crosslinguistic differences arise from the interaction of anaphoric feature specifications and operations of the computational system (Reuland 2001(Reuland , 2011Hicks 2009). This analysis attributes difficulties in the L2 acquisition of locality and orientation properties in binding to problems reanalysing the features responsible for reflexivisation in the target language. Such an approach is shown to predict, in contrast to previous accounts, that if the locality and orientation behaviour of English reflexives arise due to syntactic operations on their features (Agree), acquisition of locality cannot be achieved unless orientation is also acquired; a picture-verification task completed by 70 Korean L2 speakers of English fully bears out this prediction. We show that for independent reasons, Korean speakers could still behave apparently nativelike for locality (by means of L1 transfer), but not for orientation. Crucially, this analysis can explain how two properties traditionally subsumed under the same UG principle can appear to pose different learning difficulties to L2 speakers.

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Section: Individual Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Untangling Locality and Orientation Constraints in the L2 Acquisition of Anaphoric Binding: A Feature-Based Approach

Domínguez

Hicks

Song

2012

Language Acquisition

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“…Eckman, 1994; Finer & Broselow, 1986; Hirakawa, 1990; Thomas, 1989, 1991) are concerned with the ability of speakers of languages which allow the marked value (e) of the GCP to acquire the binding setting, or concerned with the ability of speakers of languages that allow the unmarked value (a) of the GCP in order to establish whether or not L2 learners have access to UG. The acquisition is mostly concerned with English reflexives by native Japanese speakers (Hirakawa, 1990; Wakabayashi, 1996), Chinese (Jiang, 2009) or native Korean speakers (Finer & Broselow, 1986). These empirical studies lead to optionality which the parameterized approach fails to account for.…”

Section: Review Of Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers (e.g. Akiyama, 2002; Jiang, 2009) examine locality instantiated in biclausal sentences with finite and nonfinite clauses, trying to address the issue of whether L2 learners have access to the principles and parameters of Universal Grammar (UG).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of the interface categories on the acquisition patterns of English reflexives among learners of English as a foreign language

Zhang

et al. 2019

International Journal of Bilingualism

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Objectives: Binding properties are difficult for learners to fully acquire. This study explored English-as-a-foreign-language learners’ acquisition patterns of the three binding properties of English reflexives and the effectiveness of the Interface Hypothesis. Methodology: One hundred and twenty-two native speakers of Chinese, a language with different binding properties, participated in the study; they were categorized into low, intermediate and advanced groups according to an English proficiency test. They were read 32 stories of 2 to 5 sentences each and were required to provide a comment sentence instantiating the three binding properties; i.e. c-command, subject orientation and locality. Data and analysis: A mixed repeated measures ANOVA was conducted with group and individual results of the experimental task to ascertain whether there were significant differences across different binding properties and among the three proficiency groups. Findings: Results from a truth-value judgment task indicate that the within-groups difficulty order of the three distinct binding properties is that: (a) for the low-proficiency group, c-command was easier than locality and orientation; and (b) for the intermediate-proficiency and the high-proficiency groups, c-command was easier than locality which, in turn, was easier than orientation. Among the three proficiency-groups, four acquisition patterns were found, which standard Binding Theory and its extensions cannot adequately explain. Originality: This is the first study to provide a variable-dependent account. It is argued that success or failure in establishing interface relations in second language grammars is likely to depend on a number of variables, including the involvement of the syntax–lexicon interface, syntax–semantics interface and syntax–discourse interface. Implications: The research suggests that the acquisition of English reflexives is variable-dependent, but not domain-wide. Specifically, the relationship between the binder and anaphoric expression can be established between the anaphors and some of their potential antecedents in second language English grammars, but not others, lending support to the Interface Hypothesis.

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“…Participants judged whether the sentence was true or false in the context of the picture. Use of a picture instead of a story to present the context ensures that participants understand the context; another approach is to present the story context in the learners’ L1, as was done, for example, in Jiang (2009), another study that used a TVJT to study anaphor binding in L2 acquisition.…”

Section: Interpretation Tasksmentioning

confidence: 99%

Judgment and Interpretation Tasks in Second Language Research

Ionin¹,

Zyzik²

2014

Ann Rev Appl Linguist

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This article provides an overview of recent studies in second language acquisition that use tasks that elicit learners' judgments about the grammaticality of language or learners' interpretation of language. We discuss acceptability judgment tasks, preference tasks, truth-value judgment tasks, and other types of interpretation tasks. For each task type, recent studies that use that task are briefly summarized, with a focus on advantages and disadvantages of the methodology in relation to the study's objectives. A variety of topics related to task administration are covered, including (but not limited to) different types of rating scales; presentation of target sentences in isolation versus in the context of other sentences, stories, and/or pictures; visual versus auditory modality of presentation; and timed versus untimed tasks.

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A referential/quantified asymmetry in the second language acquisition of English reflexives by Chinese-speaking learners

Cited by 8 publications

References 25 publications

Untangling Locality and Orientation Constraints in the L2 Acquisition of Anaphoric Binding: A Feature-Based Approach

Untangling Locality and Orientation Constraints in the L2 Acquisition of Anaphoric Binding: A Feature-Based Approach

Effects of the interface categories on the acquisition patterns of English reflexives among learners of English as a foreign language

Judgment and Interpretation Tasks in Second Language Research

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