涌现论视角下英语关系从句的习得

An emergentist approach to the acquisition of English relative clauses

本研究通过语料库方法考察中国学习者英语口语中关系从句的使用情况,同时运用语法判断和对划线部分提问两种方法调查了他们的关系从句移位限制知识。结果显示,中国英语学习者口语中使用的关系从句有很大一部分是呈现型的或表达单命题的句子,他们的关系从句移位限制知识也在一定程度上与关系从句构式的信息结构特征有关。研究发现,对关系从句这种复杂构式的习得主要是基于语块或构式,而不是基于规则。

Utilizing grammaticality judgment and question formulation, this study examines Chinese EFL learners' use of English relative clauses based on a learner corpus with a focus on their knowledge of constraints on extractions from relative clauses. The results show that a large proportion of the relative clauses used by Chinese learners are presentational or express a single proposition. Besides, Chinese learners tend to consider extractions from presentational relative clauses more acceptable than those from non-presentational ones, suggesting that the information structural properties of relative clauses may account for part of their knowledge of constraints on extractions from relative clauses, which is traditionally treated as evidence for UG. The findings indicate that the acquisition of relative clauses is largely exemplar-based or construction-based rather than rule-based.