中国英语学习者习得英语虚拟位移构式的实证研究

L2 acquisition of English fictive motion constructions by Chinese EFL learners

本文把各类英语虚拟位移表达式视为一种具有特定语用语义的语法构式,并从语言结构层面系统比较了英、汉虚拟位移构式的异同点。在此基础上,我们考察了不同英语水平的中国英语学习者习得英语虚拟位移构式的特点及潜在的习得困难。80名中国英语学习者以及15名英语母语者一起参加了本项实证研究。研究发现:(1)中国英语学习者按难易度顺序先后习得英语虚拟位移构式中的"移动主体"、"移动路径"、"移动方式"以及"移动时间"这四个虚拟位移构式建构要素的句法、语义特征。(2)英语水平的高低在很大程度上影响了受试习得英语虚拟位移的情况,也即英语水平愈高,习得情况愈好。(3)即使高水平的中国英语学习者在习得英语虚拟位移时仍存在一定困难,远未能达到母语者水平;(4)某些英语虚拟位移构式的次类型(如假设位移)对英语母语者也构成一定的挑战。

In this paper, all kinds of fictive motion instances are taken as a construction. Based on a lsystematic linguistic analysis of both English and Chinese fictive motion constructions （ hereinafter ＂FMC＂ ）, the present study investigates L2 acquisition of English FMCs by Chinese EFL learners with different levels of English proficiency. All together, 80 Chinese EFL learners and 15 native speakers of English were recruited to participate in the empirical study. The research results show that the Chinese EFL learners performed best on acquiring both the syntactic and the semantic properties of FMCs＇ Figure, Path, Manner and Duration of Motion in order accordingly and that the high-level Chinese EFL learners performed significantly better than the low-level counterparts on their acquisition of both the syntactic and the semantic properties of Figure, Path and Manner, while they did similarly on both the syntactic and the semantic properties of Duration of Motion. Moreover, it further indicates that even the high-level Chinese EFL learners were not able to reach the level of the native speakers. Finally, it is surprisingly revealed that even the native speakers of English did have some trouble coping with both the syntactic and the semantic properties of Duration of Motion with the hypothetical motion （an FMC subtype）.