IP外名词性结构及其在二语习得中的初始重组

Nominal Constructions beyond IP and Their Initial Restructuring in L2 Acquisition

本文旨在揭示第二语言习得初始状态的一些特征。具体来讲,如果把第一语言中允许的CP结构搬到第二语言的句子中来,造出“*She matbematics failed”,“*This child,head isbig”,“?Apple I like”,“*Vegetables I hate pepper”等类型的句子,学英语的中国人都不会接受,关于这些结构的母语知识在二语习得中似乎“一习即失”。为探讨上述问题,本研究从比较英汉两种语言的CP指示语结构入手,运用生成语法的理论框架,发现任何位于IP之外的NP都隐性保持着自己的格,由于格的潜意识的存在,在二语习得的初始阶段普遍存在从一语中存在的主干CP到二语允许的主干IP的自发重构。对处于不同习得阶段的150名中国英语学习者进行的一次多视角调查支持了上述分析,并进一步导出两点有关语言习得机制的假设。一是二语学习者普遍倾向于把目的语看成是第一语言的一个子集;一是格意识在语言习得中起着比结构投射更为基本的作用。

The present study sets out to reveal certain features of the initial state of Ll-Chinese L2-English learners' mind. Specifically, Chinese-speaking learners never accept such LI-allowed CP clauses as '* She mathematics failed', '* This child, head is big', '? Apple I like', '* Vegetables, I hate pepper', even if some of the underlined beyond-IP NPs are marginally acceptable in English. The LI knowledge related to these structures seems to be initially unlearned. To approach the above research issue, the present study begins with a comparison of different nominal constructions at matrix spec-CP and adjunct spec-CP in Chinese and English within the framework of generative grammar. The comparison yields the finding that any NP beyond IP retains its Case covertly, and it is the unconscious sense of Case that leads to the spontaneous structuring from the LI-specific root CP to an L2-allowed root IP, a seemingly universal phenomenon at the initial stage of L2 acquisition. A multi-focus investigation with 150 L1-Chinese, L2 English subjects at different learning stages strongly evidenced the above analysis. Underpinning these learning phenomena are two mechanisms hypothetically dictated by the human language faculty. One is the proposed universal tendency for L2 learners to assume their target language to be a subset of the L1. The other is that the sense of Case plays a more basic role in language acquisition than the structural projection.