基于依存树库的中国英语学习者时间状语从句语序习得发展研究

A Development Study on the Ordering Distribution of Temporal Adverbial Clauses by Chinese EFL Learners Based on Dependency Treebank

本研究以依存句法为理论基础,考察初阶、中阶和高阶中国英语学习者时间状语从句的语序分布,研究发现:1)中国英语学习者倾向于将时间状语从句前置于主句,但随着二语水平的提升,学习者时间状语从句的后置率不断上升,趋近于目标语的语序分布。2)中国英语学习者时间状语从句从属连词的语序分布与目标语一致,呈现100%前置的分布特征,这与从属连词在英语中使用频率高的凸显性特征有关。3)平均依存距离是中国英语学习者时间状语从句呈现前置倾向的动因之一。作为一种自然语言,中介语具有一种区别于母语和目标语的独特认知机制。本研究可为不同二语水平的学习者了解和学习时间状语从句提供更为全面的理论参考,为教师教学提供来自实证研究的数据支撑。

Temporal adverbial clause is an important language structure and exhibits different features in English and Chinese,which brings about difficulties for Chinese EFL learners.Based on the theory of Dependency Grammar,the study attempts to investigate the ordering distribution of temporal adverbial clauses by Chinese EFL learners at the beginning,intermediate and advanced levels.The results show that:1)Chinese EFL learners at different proficiencies tend to precede temporal adverbial clause to main clause.With the increase of proficiency,the postposition of temporal adverbial clauses by learners increases and is approaching to the ordering preference of target language.2)The ordering distribution of subordinators for temporal adverbial clauses by Chinese EFL learners is consistent with native English,showing a tendency of 100%preposition,which ascribes to the high frequency and salience of subordinators in English.3)MDD is one of the significant motivations that cause the preference of prepositional temporal adverbial clauses by Chinese EFL learners.As a kind of natural language,interlanguage has a unique cognitive mechanism which distinguishes from both native and target language.This study provides a more comprehensive theoretical reference for learners at different proficiencies to understand and learn temporal adverbial clauses,as well as data support from empirical research for language teaching.