二语暂时性主宾语歧义句在线加工中的动词语法体效应

Grammatical aspect effects on L2 on-line processing of temporal subject-object ambiguities

本研究采用自定步速阅读的实验范式,考察动词语法体形式对不同水平中国英语学习者在线加工暂时性主宾语歧义句的影响,并与本族语者进行对比。结果显示:1)不同水平学习者均已掌握英语动词语法体的相关显性知识;2)在线加工实验中,学习者的数据未呈现显著的动词语法体主效应,与本族语者表现不同;3)相比低水平学习者,高水平学习者的实验数据更接近本族语者,但对进行体标记仍不够敏感。已有的用体标记语法化程度不同对此现象的解释不够充分,因此本研究提出:由于英汉两种语言的体标记语法化路径和民族思维特性不同,英汉语法体的表征信息不同,分别凸显空间和时间概念,汉语对中国学习者产生跨语言的影响,但若学习者英语水平超过某一阈值,影响可减弱,这进一步验证了共享分布式非对称模型。

The present study investigates grammatical aspect effects on Chinese EFL learners’ on-line processing of temporal subject-object ambiguities, using a self-paced reading task, and compares the results with those of native speakers. The results show that the Chinese learners at two proficiency levels have mastered the explicit knowledge related to grammatical aspect;in the experiment, no simple effect of aspect can be detected from Chinese learners’ data, which is different from native speakers. In comparison with the less proficient EFL learners, the proficient ones’ data are closer to native speakers, but still do not exhibit native-like sensitivity to aspect. These results cannot be fully explained by the degree of grammaticalization of L2 aspect marker. Thus, the study argues that because the ways of grammaticalization and national thinking are different between the two languages, their representations are different, emphasizing spatiality and temporality respectively. The native language exerts a cross-linguistic influence on Chinese learners but if their L2 proficiency goes beyond a certain threshold, the inference will be attenuated. This supports the shared distributed asymmetrical model.