中国英语学习者he/she混用错误探源:语信编码中的代词性别信息缺失

The Mixed Use of He/She for Chinese Learners of English

利用自定步速阅读实验,测量被试阅读与前置词名词性别一致或者不一致的代词he/she的阅读时间,探测he/she混用的根源。前置词为被试熟知的名人名字(如巩俐、李连杰)或典型性别职业名词(如护士、管道工)。实验结果发现,前置词性别凸显度影响被试阅读相应代词的时间,高凸显度的前置词其代词阅读方式与区分代词性别的母语阅读方式一致。实验结果说明,中国英语学习者英语代词he/she混用错误不是形式上的选择错误,根源在于说话的前言语语信编码阶段,即语信编码中代词性别信息的缺失。

To explore the underlying reason for the mixed use of HE/SHE, a self-paced reading experiment was conducted to record the reading time for each HE or SHE that matched or did not match its corresponding antecedent. Antecedents were either celebrity names （e.g. Gong Li or Li Lianjie） or career names with prototype gender （e.g. nurse or plumber）. The experiment found that the reading time for HE or SHE was influenced by the gender prominence of its corresponding antecedent, and that antecedents of high gender prominence produced patterns of reading time that were consistent with those patterns produced by readers whose mother tongue distinguishes between HE and SHE. The findings indicate that the mixed use of HE/SHE is not a wrong selection of words, but the result of gender information missing in the composition of preverbal message in language production.