施受非对称性和汉语迁移效应——人造语言学习的ERP实验发现

Actor-Undergoer Asymmetry and Transfer Effect——Evidence From Learning an Artificial Language

文章考察汉语母语者内隐式学习一门人造语言格标记规则的过程,揭示语言学习的普遍规律和母语影响。这门语言的句子由名词-名词-动词(NP1-NP2-Verb)构成,格标记的隐现取决于论元生命性。汉语者在实验室内接触这门语言,随即参与句子合法性判断的ERP实验。实验结果支持施受非对称性:在NP1上,违反施事者在先的条件诱发了一个更大的N400;在NP2上,无生命条件的格标记违反产生了一个更大的N400-Late Positivity。并且,违反典型(有生命)施事者的条件诱发了一个更早的N400。此外,线索层面上存在母语迁移。随着训练的增加,学习者能发挥母语中生命性线索抑制语序线索,直至掌握这门语言的规律。实验结果有利于重审语言学习的神经机制以及外语教学方法。

To explore language universal and language-specific influence on second language learning,the current study examines how Chinese students implicitly learn the case-marking rules of an artificial language.This language had an NP1-NP2-verb (actor-initial or undergoer-initial) order.The presence or absence of the case markers was based on animacy.After being exposed to this language in the lab,participants made grammaticality judgments for novel sentences while their EEG was recorded.Our findings support actor-undergoer asymmetries: at the case-marked NP1,there was a larger N400 for the actor’s case violations;at the NP2,there was a more significant N400-Late Positivity for the inanimate case violations.Especially,the inanimate actor’s case violation led to an N400 with an earlier onset.Furthermore,it was also observed that Chinese transfer effects could happen at a cue-level.As the learners’ language exposure increased,they could successfully make use of animacy rather than word order,until they mastered the case-marking rules.Our results may shed some new light on neurophysiological mechanisms of language learning as well as on foreign language teaching.