L2 Acquisition of English Prenominal Psych Adjectival ParticiplesMiddle School Students.doc

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1、中学生对英语前置心理形容词的二语习得研究L2 Acquisition of English Prenominal Psych Adjectival Participles by Middle School StudentsAbstract：This thesis reports on an investigation into how Chinese-speaking second language (L2) learners of English develop their knowledge of pronominal psych adjectival participles, based

2、 on the theory of Semantic Salience Hierarchy Model (SSHM, Zhang, 2003). It studies the L2 acquisition of English psych participles, derived from psych verbs, which describe Experiencers emotion. English psych participles in this study act as attributive both in subject and object position in a sent

3、ence, and there are two types of psych adjectival participles, one takes ed and the other takes ing as the affix, i.e, VedAs and VingAs. Both types can be combined with animate nouns.The necessity of choosing psych adjectival participles as a topic for research is that psych participles as well as p

4、sych verbs are very difficult for learners of English to acquire, so errors frequently occur in their works and test papers. In the field of teaching English as TESOL, psych adjectival participles are also identified as an aspect of English grammar. The present study tackles the learning problems in

5、 the framework of Semantic Salience Hierarchy Model (SSHM), established by Zhang (2003). SSHM states that L2 acquisition of CAUS is a reflection of the salience of the syntactically relevant meaning component in its actual embodiments or representations in natural languages. Our study focuses on the

6、 significance of the acquisition process of VingAs and VedAS being combined with nouns in different positions in sentences, and on the prediction that animacy can be used as a learning strategy in EFL.We did an experiment to test four hypotheses following Zhang (2003). 40 students from Xian No.85 Mi

7、ddle School participated in our investigation. L2 acquisition of prenominal psych adjectives by Chinese middle school students is a process of the recognition of zero CAUS and developing sensitivity to the one-to-two correspondence in VingAs. In this study, we are aware that students correctly accep

8、ted the combination of VedAs with animate nouns, but clearly rejected its combination with inanimate nouns. However, they only correctly accepted the combinations of VingAs with inanimate nouns, but incorrectly rejected those with animate nouns. On the other hand, MCT data results just disapproved t

9、he hypothesis that students are more accurate with VedAs than with VingAs. Therefore, we can not say that students are more accurate with VedAs than with VingAs. Our prediction that Chinese learners of English will be more accurate with VingAs in combination with inanimate nouns than with animate no

10、uns found robust evidence for animacy as a learning strategy in EFL. Our results provided further detailed evidence for SSHM (Zhang, 2003). We also found that there was no significant effect for students judgment or choice of prenominal modifying psych adjectives in either subject or object position

11、 for either VedAs or VingAs. In short, middle school students acquire pronominal psych adjectives by following the One-to-One principle, using animacy as a learning strategy.Key Words: psych adjectival participles, SLA, Semantic Salience Hierarchy Model animacy, one-one principle 中学生对英语前置心理形容词的二语习得研

12、究摘要：本学位论文以“语义突显层级模式理论”为基础，主要研究的是中国学生对英语前置心理形容词的二语习得问题。本论文中的心理形容词是描述人的心理感受并承担定语，出现在句中的主语和宾语部分。心理形容词派生于心理动词，分别在其词尾加-ing 和-ed, 即有VingAs和V-edAs两种形式。两种形式均可与有生名词搭配。选择英语前置心理形容词进行研究的必要性在于英语心理形容词和心理动词对中学生来说难以习得。因此，错误频繁地出现在他们的作业，考卷和表达中。再者，在TESOL领域，英语心理形容词也被视作是英语语法的一部分。Zhang(2003)提出了并在大学生中验证了“语义突显层级模式理论”，该理论指出

13、英语心理谓词（包括心理形容词）的二语习得是对与句法相关的语义成份“使意”在自然语言中实际表征突显性的反映。本论文以此为理论指导，是在中学生中对“语义突显层级模式理论”的进一步验证，主要考查在语境因素中心理形容词做前置定语的习得过程和结果，以及中学生是否将有生性作为一种学习策略用于他们对名词前置定语的心理形容词习得。以前的研究一致地认为学习者对VedAs 的习得优于VingAs，本研究实际也是想发现在心理形容词与名词搭配时是否会有相类似的倾向。为此，我们提出了四个假设。继而，我们在省重点中学西安市第85中学40名高二学生中进行了实验研究。结果表明受试者接受VingAs与无生名词的搭配，VedAs

14、与有生名词的搭配，而拒绝VingAs与有生名词的搭配。多选题结果表明学生对VingAs与无生名词的搭配明显好于对VedAs与有生名词的搭配，后者又明显地好于VingAs与有生名词的搭配。因此我们不能说中学生对VingAs的习得要难于对VedAs的习得。事实上，VingAs与有生和无生名词的搭配均正确，因为VingAs与名词的组合遵循“一对二” 的对应原则。同时，VedAs与名词的搭配在主语位置的习得优于在宾语位置的习得，而VingAs与名词的搭配在主语与宾语位置上没有差异，但总体上两类形容词在主语与宾语位置的习得是没有差异的。最后，我们得出了“有生性可以作为一种学习策略用于教学中”的结论。这一

15、点早在语义突显层级模式理论被预测，并在此得到进一步验证，证明此理论在教学中的有效性。简而言之，中学生对英语前置心理形容词的习得是遵循“一对一”的原则，有生性也是作为一种学习策略来使用的。关键词：英语前置心理形容词; 二语习得; 语义突显层级模式理论; 有生性;一对一原则TABLE OF CONTENTSChapter 1 Introduction -11.1 Research Orientation -11.2 Psych Participles: the Target of Research-11.3 Analyses of Prenominal Adjectival Participles

16、-21.4 Rational for the Study-21.5 Key Research Questions-31.6 Organization of the Thesis-4Chapter 2 Literature Review-52.0 Introduction-52.1 Linguistic Analyses of Psych Participles-5 2.1.1 Psych Adjectives: the Flip Phenomenon-5 2.1.2 The Derivation of Psych Participles-5 2.1.2.1 Roberts Ergrative

17、Account-6 2.1.2.2 Chens Account of Causative VingAs and Non-Causative VedAs-7 2.1.2.3 Psych Adjectives and Double Morphology of VingAs-82.2 L2 Acquisition of Psych Predictes-92.3 L2 Acquisition of conflation Class Prenominal Adjectival Participles-11 2.3.1 Semantic Properties and Syntactic Represent

18、ation of Verb Class-11 2.3.2 Syntactic Positions and the Attributive Filter-11 2.3.3 Learning Prenominal Adjectival participles-122.4 Summary-13Chapter 3 The Acquisition of Prenominal Psych Adjectives-143.0 Introduction-143.1 SSHM: the Semantic Salience Hierarchy Model-143.2 Central issue of Researc

19、h-15 3.2.1 L1 Influence: The Role of Latent CAUS Construction-16 3.2.2 The Role of an Extra-Linguistic Factor: Animacy-173.3 Research Hypotheses-18Chapter 4 The Empirical Study-194.1 Participants-194.2 Instrumentation-19 4.2.1 Psych Participles Token-19 4.2.2 Grammaticality Judgment Task (GJT) -19 4

20、.2.3 Multiple Choice Task (MCT) -214.3 Procedures-214.4 Data Analyses-21 4.4.1 Collecting and Scoring of GJT Data-21 4.4.2 Collecting and Scoring of MCT Data-22Chapter 5 Results-235.0 Introduction-235.1 Results for Hypothesis 1-235.2 Results for Hypothesis 2 and 3 (GJT) -24 5.2.1 MCT Data-255.3 Resu

21、lts for Hypothesis 4-25 5.3.1 MCT Data-27Chapter 6 Discussion-296.0 Introduction-296.1 Summary of the Findings-296.2 The One-to-One Principle-306.3 Animacy as a Learning Strategy-30Chapter 7 Conclusions, Suggestions & Implication-327.1 Conclusions-327.2 Suggestions for Further Research-327.3 Implica

22、tions for EFT-33Appendix A-34Appendix B-38References-41攻读学位期间的研究成果-44Chapter 1Introduction1.1 Research OrientationThis study presents the L2 acquisition of English Prenominal Psych Adjectival Participles by middle school students. This is an attempt to investigate the learners internal representatio

23、n of knowledge of English psych participles in the framework of Zhangs Semantic Salience Hierarchy Model and Wangs Conflation Classes of Prenominal Adjectival Participles, which is to discover what second language learners know about the lexicon of the second language. How the learners learn and why

24、 they learn it in this way.1.2 Psych Participles: the Target of ResearchIn this study, psych predicates, which describe how people feel about someone or something, refer to psych verbs and the participles or adjectives derived from psych verbs. Psych verbs are considered to have two semantic roles,

25、Theme and Experiencer. Theme is the cause of a change in the psychological state and experiencer is the animate being that experiences the emotion. However, the syntactic position of these semantic roles are different in (1a) and (1b). In (1a), Experiencers appear at the subject position while in (1

26、b), it occurs at the object position.(1) a.John enjoyed the film. I fear an earthquake. Peter worries about the exam. The old lady heard an annoying noise.b. The film delighted John. An earthquake frightens me. The exam worries Peter. With the noise, came an annoyed old lady.According to Pesetsky (1

27、995), in (1) a, the class of verbs are called Subject Experience (SE) verbs, and in (1) b, the class of verbs are object Experience (OE) verbs. This convenient terminology is followed throughout the thesis and they lead to the two different forms of psych adjectives or participles.Just as mentioned

28、above, psych participles are derived from psych verbs. There are two types of psych participles, one takes ed and the other ing as the affix. For ease of the discussion, we will refer to them as VedAs and VingAs respectively.1.3 Analysis of Prenominal Adjectival ParticiplesAdjectival participles are

29、 of two types: one takes ed and the other ing as the affix. An adjectival participle can occur in (a) the prenominal position (e.g. a broken car ) and (b) the postnominal position (e.g. a purse stolen). (Wang Chuming, 1996). The former can be identified as the postmodifying nonclausal position and t

30、he latter as the postmodifying clausal position. In what follows, it can be shown that acceptability of a prenominal adjectival participle is determined partly by the syntactic attributive position and partly by the inherent meaning of the base verb. Well-formed adjectival participles come as a resu

31、lt of the interaction between the two. The semantic property associated with the pronominal position can serve as a constraint on the formation of verb conflation classes that yield well-formed prenominal adjectival participles.1.4 Rationale for the StudyIt is very significant in teaching as well as

32、 important in theory to choose psych participles as a topic for study. First of all, the VedAs and VingAs forms from psych verbs are always tested in Achievement Test, Diagnostic Test and NMET for quite a number of years. What is more, the “ irregular” mapping between VingPs and VedPs poses learnabi

33、lity problems for both L1 and all ESL learners (Juffs, 1998; Lock, 1996). In the field of teaching English as second or foreign language (TESOL), psych adjectives or participles are identified as aspect of English grammar that often causes global errors or even intolerable , for they affect the over

34、all organization and seriously prevent communication.(Burt, Dulay &krashen,1982): (2)At the news, she cried out an exciting voice. (Qu, a Chinese middle school student)Intended: She cried out an excited voice.(3) The boy frightened dog. (Yang, a middle school student)Intended: The boy feared that fr

35、ightening dog.(4) The old man has a disappointed son. (Li, a Chinese middle school student)Intended: The old man has a disappointing son.Thus arises the problem that the students have much difficulty in the acquisition of psych participles as prenominal adjectival functions. Firstly, because of the

36、double morphology effect in VingAs, zero CAUS in VingAS is more difficult to be acquired than VedAs. The co-existence of Causative VingAs with noncausative VedAs in the Target Language (TL)input would cause confusion among the Chinese EFL learners. Secondly, a corollary is that VingAs and VedAs form

37、s appear very early in interlanguage (IL), but learners confusion will disappear when the learners have acquired the zero CAUS in VingAs and its one-two principle with NP.Thirdly, the acquisition of psych adjectives has attracted increasing research attention (White, 1995; Juffs, 1996; Chen,1996; Wh

38、ite et al, 1998; Montrul, 2001b; Zhang, 2003; Zhang et.al & Wen, 2004). Among the increasing number of studies that investigated the L2 acquisition of psych predicates, only four particularly looked into Chinese EFL learners, i.e., Juffs (1996), Chen (1996), Zhang (2003) and Zhang &Wen (2004). All of them have proved the morphological properties of psych predicates as