屈折词缀的缺失与中介语语法的损伤

Missing inflections and impairment of interlanguage grammar

本文在最简方案框架下通过对中国英语学习者的实验研究来探讨论中介语语法的损伤问题。文章首先回顾和比较了有关中介语语法损伤问题的三个假说—局部损伤假说”、“特征失效假说”和“表面——“屈折成分缺失假说”,然后探讨了英语定式的特征组。对中国英语学习者的实验结果表明,被试的英语定式动词虽然缺失了相当比例的屈折词缀,但他们已经完全习得了定式的特征组,其英语句法系统和特征核查机制都是完好的。实验结果支持“表面屈折成分缺失假说”。文章最后从理论上探讨了屈折词缀缺失的原因,并指出了今后的研究方向。

This article reports on a study that addresses the question of whether missing inflections are indicative of impairment of interlanguage grammar. The issue is discussed within the framework of the Minimalist Program. The study looked into the written English of three groups of Chinese learners of English. Results showed that although inflections of finite verbs were missing in their English in a considerable proportion, the learners had fully mastered the syntactic knowledge of . They could distinguish finiteness from nonfiniteness, using overt nominative subjects in finite clauses consistently, placing negator and VP adverbs on the left of thematic verbs, and marking agreement correctly. These results suggest that, consistent with the 'Missing Surface Inflection Hypothesis', the interlanguage syntactic system and mechanism of feature checking remained unimpaired with Chinese learners of English. Possible causes for the missing inflection phenomenon are postulated in light of the Distributed Morphology, the Rich Agreement Hypothesis, and the Separation Hypothesis. The article concludes that the key to resolving the debate over the impairment of interlanguage grammar lies in clarifying the causes for the missing inflection and the relationship between syntax and morphology.