Ultimate attainment of anaphora resolution in L2 Chinese

Abstract

The current study tests the Interface Hypothesis through forward and backward anaphora in complex sentences with temporal subordinate clauses in highly proficient English-speaking learners' L2 Chinese. Forward anaphora is involved when the overt pronoun ta 'he/she' or a null element appears in the subject position of the main clause, whereas backward anaphora is involved when it is in the subject position of the temporal clause, because the main clause always follows the temporal clause in Chinese. Specifically, the article tests the syntactic and discourse constraints in the interpretation and representation of ta and the null element in complex sentences. Ta is constrained by the syntactic cyclic-c-command condition. Thus it is possible for ta refer to the other sentential subject in forward anaphora, but not in backward anaphora in Chinese. Unlike English, Chinese allows a null element in subject positions of finite subordinate and main clauses. It is proposed in the article that the null element in these positions is a Ø topic , a syntax-discourse interface category. Results from an acceptability judgement task and a picture judgment task indicate that Øtopic at the external interface has been acquired, whereas the cyclic-c-command condition within narrow

L2 Chinese: Grammatical development and processing

“…Processing abilities of learners who are at or near the lowest or top ends of the proficiency scale (i.e. true beginners and near-native learners of Chinese) remain comparatively unknown, except for those reported in Han and Liu (2013) and LX Zhao (2014). On another dimension, bilingual speakers of Chinese other than late L2 Chinese learners are still under-represented.…”

How Chinese learners of L2 European Portuguese interpret null and overt pronouns in forward and backward anaphora

“…null subjects are preferentially interpreted as referring to a subject antecedent, while overt subjects are preferentially interpreted as referring to a non-subject antecedent 8 (e.g., Lust et al, 1996;Zhao, 2014 7 It should be noticed that Chinese also allows disjoint interpretation between the matrix subject and the embedded overt pronoun in forward anaphora structure, though this interpretation is less favored as shown in our preliminary test presented in section 5.1.1. 8 Note, however, that, although the bias is similar in forward and backward anaphora in EP, the preference (percentage of choice) is not exactly the same, with a lower preference for overt-object bias in backward anaphora, as mentioned before.…”

“…As discussed in the introduction, Chinese displays different interpretative preferences in forward and backward anaphora, as compared to Romance null subject languages. Studies on Chinese (Huang, 1982;Lust et al, 1996;Zhao, 2014;a.o. ) report, that in forward anaphora, both the null subject and the overt subject tend to refer to the matrix subject, while in backward anaphora, the two anaphoric expressions exhibit different interpretations: the null subject tends to refer to the matrix subject, while the overt one tends to refer to a previously unmentioned entity.…”

“…In (6), on the other hand, as the pronoun is c-commanded by the matrix subject and located in a domain other than that of the matrix subject, their coreference is not ruled out by any principles. This proposal is also adopted in Zhao (2014). 11…”

“…11 Zhao (2014) proposes that the null subject in Chinese is not pro, but a deleted copy of a zero topic. Thus, in backward anaphora its interpretation is not constrained by cyclic c-command.…”