中国英语学习者因果连词与因果复句主从句关系的原型对应分析

Prototypical correspondence of the use of subordinations and causal relationships by Chinese EFL learners

因果复句主从句关系主要包括描述“动因-结果”的直接关系以及表达“论点-论据”的间接关系,并可分别细分为“近因”“远因”以及“观点-支持”“推断-证据”“建议-理由”等二级关系。以往文献表明,因果复句主从句关系在一级分类(即直接关系与间接关系)与因果连词之间存在原型对应,反映语义关系和语用策略。据此,本研究选取976条英语本族语者的因果复句语例为参照数据,以1,222条中国学习者的英语因果复句用例为研究对象,在二级因果复句主从句关系系统中,通过统计分析得出以下结论:1)相较于本族语者,学习者在议论文中较多使用“近因”因果复句,较少使用“远因”和“观点-支持”因果复句,一定程度上体现了其体裁意识不足的问题;2)在因果连词使用方面,学习者倾向使用since构建“建议-理由”复句,体现了一定的语用意识,但在“远因”复句中使用了较多的since,而在“观点-支持”复句中使用了较多的because,体现了语用意识不足的倾向。本研究推进了因果复句本体研究,同时也可为英语篇章写作提供教学指导。

Inter-clausal relationships in causal subordinations mainly comprise direct(motivationconsequence)and indirect(proposition-support)relationships, which can be further categorized into immediate, remote, assertion-extension, inference-prediction and evidence, and suggestionsupport relationships. Previous literature found that inter-clausal relationships often prototypically correspond to connectives, which demonstrates semantic reasoning and pragmatic strategies. Hence, based on 976 causal subordinations from argumentative essays of native English speakers and 1,222 instances from Chinese EFL learners, our study focuses on Chinese English as a foreign language(EFL)learners’ behavior in using causal subordinations to extend inter-clausal relationships. The major findings are: First, compared to native speakers, Chinese EFL learners produce more “immediate” and fewer “assertion-extension” causal subordinations, which implies their insufficient register awareness. Second, Chinese EFL learners demonstrate their pragmatic awareness through a greater use of since in “suggestion-support” causal subordinations. However, they tend to construct “remote” and “assertion-extension” causal subordinations with since and because, respectively, indicating a lack of pragmatic awareness. The research contributes to causal subordination studies per se as well as English writing pedagogy.