母语迁移对英语非宾格动词过度被动化的影响--以汉语为母语的英语学习者为例

Effect of First Language Transfer on the Overpassivization of English Unaccusative Verbs

英语非宾格动词的过度被动化是英语中介语中的一种常见错误,也是二语习得研究中的一个热点问题。研究者们为揭示这种错误的成因,提出了至少五种假说。其中母语迁移说被大量国外研究所否定,却被许多国内研究所认同。聚焦于母语迁移这一因素,将多篇相关实证研究文献基于母语迁移的严格标准进行了重新分析,验证了母语迁移是造成英语非宾格动词,特别是可转换非宾格动词和特定非宾格动词过度被动化错误的重要成因。

Overpassivization of English unaccusative verbs is a common mistake seen in English interlanguage and has drawn much attention of the SLA researchers. At least 5 major accounts have been proposed. Among them, the first language transfer hypothesis was rejected by nearly all foreign studies but accepted by many studies conducted in China. This article focuses on the influence of first language transfer on the overpassivization errors of English unaccusative verbs made by Chinese learners of English, and reanalyses data from 8 previous empirical studies. Based on the strict criterion for language transfer, this study proves that first language transfer is a main contributing factor to Chinese learners’ overpassivization errors of English unaccusative verbs, particularly to alternating unaccusative verbs and a specific unaccusative verb.