中国学习者英语中话题突出特性迁移研究综述

A Review of Transfer of Topic-Prominent Features in L1-Chinese Learners’ English Production

汉语是典型的话题突出语言,而英语是典型的主语突出语言,英汉语在话题/主语突出上的类型差异使得中国学习者在英语中过度使用话题–述题结构和存现结构,出现零回指、假被动和迂回结构。本文首先对话题突出特性进行了梳理和跨语言对比,然后回顾和评析了目前对中国学生英语中话题突出特性迁移的研究,同时从研究内容、研究方法对其评论,最后指出存在的问题以及未来能够展开的研究工作。

As it is universally acknowledged that Chinese is a topic-prominent language whereas English is a subject-prominent language, numerous differences lie between these two languages. Given the language typological disparity, L1-Chinese learners have a tendency to transfer topic-prominent features, manifesting as overuse of topic-comment constructions, existential constructions, zero anaphoras, pseudo passives and periphrastic constructions in their English productions. This ar-ticle firstly summarizes the theories about TP features and compares their cross-linguistic differences. Then the previous studies of the topic-prominent features in English as a second language are reviews and analyzed. However, there is no agreement in terms of which Chinese topic-prominent features will be transferred by the learners to English and the forms of corresponding structures in interlanguage are indeterminate. Besides, whether L1-Chinese learners will unlearn topic-prominent features, succeeding in approximating target language, is still under debate, and we make comments on previous studies concerning research contents and research methods. Finally, the current problems and the future researches in this field are figured out.