A referential/quantified asymmetry in the second language acquisition of English reflexives by Chinese-speaking learners

Abstract

There has been considerable research that investigates whether reflexives in interlanguage grammars (ILGs) are constrained by Principle A of the Binding Theory. These earlier studies focused on the role of sentence type, including both finite and non-finite test sentences; they did not examine the role of antecedent type, namely distinguishing between quantified antecedents and referential antecedents in the test sentences. This study explores Chinese learners’ acquisition of the locality constraints on the binding of English reflexives from a developmental perspective, focusing both on the role of sentence type and the role of antecedent type. A story-based truth-value judgment task was administered to three proficiency levels of Chinese-speaking learners of English. It was found that the finite/non-finite asymmetry in the learners’ long-distance (LD) judgments was strongest for the intermediate participants but much weaker for the beginners and advanced participants; the referential/ quantified asymmetry in the learners’ LD judgments was strongest for the advanced participants but much weaker for the beginners and intermediate participants. Implications of these findings are discussed.