中国英语学习者句法层级构型信息的跨语言启动研究

Cross-linguistic priming of syntactic hierarchical configuration information in Chinese EFL learners

句法知识的地位及其在双语间的共享问题在心理语言学界争议不断,部分原因在于既有研究未将句法与词汇、篇章等其他信息进行有效剥离。鉴于此,本研究聚焦于与挂靠歧义现象紧密相关、同具体词汇剥离而抽象程度较高的"句法层级构型信息",考察它在中国英语学习者身上的跨语言启动效应。研究发现:1)汉-英方向上,英语产出任务中存在跨语言启动效应,理解任务中也有类似趋势;2)英-汉方向上,汉语理解和产出任务中均存在跨语言启动效应;3)大部分启动效应发生在基线条件下不占优势的反应上,即存在反转偏好效应。这进一步印证了句法知识的独立性和双语句法表征的共享观。

Failure of isolating syntactic knowledge from lexical and other knowledge accounts in part for the controversy in psycholinguistic studies over the status of syntactic knowledge in the language system and whether or not this knowledge is shared in bilinguals. With this in mind, the study investigates in Chinese EFL learners the cross-linguistic priming effects of syntactic hierarchical configuration information(SHCI), typically embodied in attachment ambiguity and more abstract for its disassociation with concrete lexical items. The results reveal that 1) SHCI can be primed from Chinese to English in production tasks, and this tendency, too, manifests itself in comprehension tasks;2) SHCI can be primed from English to Chinese and both in Chinese comprehension and production tasks;3) most of the cross-linguistic priming effects occurred on the less favored reactions in the baseline condition, known as the inverse-preference effect. These findings corroborate the autonomy of syntactic knowledge and the sharing account of bilingual syntactic representation.