中国大学生英语叙事语篇中的主题引入与延续:一项历时研究

Topic continuity in Chinese EFL learners' written narratives: A longitudinal study

本文通过历时跟踪研究,考察了中国大学生在英语书面语叙事语篇中主题延续性的指称标记,检验其分布是否遵循跨语言主题延续性等级。结果表明:1)中国英语学习者的指称选择基本符合主题延续性等级,语境区分普遍存在;2)随着二语水平的提高,说话者对语境区分越来越敏感,但说话者的指称编码中还存在一些与跨语言主题延续性等级不相符合的语例。通过具体分析,笔者提出指称选择除了受语篇语境、二语水平的影响外,还与说话者对可及性的主观认识相关,这种主观认识又受到认知压力的影响。

Based on a longitudinal study, this paper investigates topic continuity marking in the English narratives written by Chinese college students, and testifies whether the distribution of various topic marking devices in different discourse contexts follows Cross-linguistic Topic Continuity Scale. Statistical results show that while Chinese EFL learners' topic encoding choices are generally in line with that scale, some of their choices deviate from it. Besides, the results provide evidence for the universal of discourse context distinction and the positive relation between L2 learners' sensitivity to discourse context distinction and their L2 development. A further detailed analysis of the linguistic data indicates that in addition to discourse context and L2 proficiency, L2 learners' referential choices are affected by speakers' perceived accessibility, which is subject to the influence of cognitive pressure.