中国英语学习者句法多构动词的结构启动研究

A structural priming study of syntactically indeterminant verbs among Chinese English learners

为检验句法特征和启动条件对句子产出的影响,本文以中国英语学习者为研究对象,开展句法多构动词的结构启动实验。研究发现:1)句法特征在句子产出中有显著主效应,词汇的语义结构和句法的形义映合复杂程度影响句子产出;2)启动条件对句子产出无显著主效应,但与句法特征有交互效应,启动效应在不同条件下具有梯级变化,表明结构启动受句法特征的调节。本研究结果表明句法表征受规则记忆和句子结构特征的双重制约。结构启动激发并保持规则记忆的加工,抑制竞争句子的表征,但启动效应的大小程度受制于句子的结构特征和学习者的认知模型。

The present study aims at examining the effects of priming conditions and syntactic features onsyntactic production of syntactically indeterminate verbs by experiments taking English L2 learnersas subjects. The results show that: 1) syntactic features have a main effect in syntactic production,which is influenced by complexity of semantic structures of lexicons and form-meaning relationshipof sentences;2) priming conditions have no apparent priming effect in syntactic production, but thereis an interactional effect between priming conditions and syntactic features;3) there is a graduation ofpriming effect in different priming conditions, suggesting that priming effects are mediated by syntacticfeatures. The study lends support to the argument that syntactic representation is constrained by rule-based memory and syntactic features. Syntactic priming activates and maintains the processing of rule-based memory while suppressing the activation of competitive structures. The study also indicates thatthe degree of priming effect depends on syntactic features and cognitive models of learners.