An Experimental Study of the Chinese Bei-Construction by English- and Japanese-Speaking Learners

• Main Authors: Shiu, Su-Ling, 許素玲
• Other Authors: Chun-Yin Doris Chen
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2001
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/10271115195740787648

碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 英語研究所 === 89 === ABSTRACT The present study investigates the second language acquisition of the Chinese bei-construction by the English and Japanese speakers, with the aim of providing empirical evidence for L1 transfer and the existence of UG (Universal Grammar). It is also the purpose of the study to examine the methodological effects, to compare the semantic property with the syntactic property and to detect different passive types. Two tasks, a grammaticality judgement task (GJ task) and a picture-cued production task (PP task), were administered to 25 English-speaking and 25 Japanese-speaking learners of Chinese at the Mandarin Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University, together with 25 native speakers. The bei-sentences, including the direct and indirect passives, which were further divided into inclusive and exclusive passives, were designed based on the four properties (i.e., preverbal bei-phrases, the deletion of the agentive NP, case absorption and adversity). The overall results show that the L2 learners indeed carried over their L1 knowledge into L2 learning in the course of acquiring the bei-construction in Chinese, suggesting that L1 transfer, regardless of whether it is positive or negative, does occur. Besides, the fact that the subjects are able to acquire the properties which are not exemplified in their L1 as well as appropriately rest the L1 parameter into their L2 values further confirms the operation of UG in L2 acquisition. With respect to the methodological effects, it has been observed that what learners correctly judged in the GJ task could not necessarily be produced by them in the PP task, which suggests that comprehension, more often than not, precedes production. Additionally, the syntactic property was found to be easier than the semantic property in the GJ task, but not in the PP task. Thus, whether the former is indeed easier than the latter or vice versa deserves further research. Finally, the direct passive and the exclusive passive pose less difficulty to the L2 learners than the indirect type and the inclusive type respectively.