From a simple to a complex aspectual system: Feature reassembly in L2 acquisition of Chinese imperfective markers by English speakers

Yanyu Guo

doi:10.1177/0267658320911433

Abstract

This article reports on an empirical study on the acquisition of Chinese imperfective markers ( zai, - zheP and - zheR) by English-speaking learners at three proficiency levels. Compared to English, Chinese has a richer imperfective aspect in terms of markers (forms) and features (meanings). Results are presented from a grammaticality judgment task, a sentence–picture matching task and a sentence completeness judgment task. We find that advanced learners are successful in reassembling additional semantic features (e.g. the [+durative] feature of zai and the [+atelic] feature of -zheP) when the first language (L1) and second language (L2) functional categories to which the to-be-added features belong are the same. However, advanced learners have problems in differentiating between the interpretations of the progressive zai and the resultant-stative - zheR, and are not sensitive to the incompleteness effect of - zheP, which indicates that discarding L1-transferred features is arduous for learners. Our findings, in general, support the predictions of the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (Lardiere, 2009). In addition, there is some evidence obtained for L1 influence, which persists at an advanced stage.

Highlights

Minimalist syntactic approaches (e.g. Chomsky, 1995) have made a principled distinction between functional and lexical categories
Aiming to explore detailed mechanisms in the feature reassembly process and learning difficulties that they raise, the present study focuses on the L2 acquisition of Mandarin imperfective markers and their features by English speaking learners
We argue that -zheR and -zheP are located in the same layer,6 and adopt the analysis of Huang et al (2009), which proposes the aspectual projection of -zheR and -zheP (AspP2) is between AspP1 and vP

Summary

Introduction

Minimalist syntactic approaches (e.g. Chomsky, 1995) have made a principled distinction between functional and lexical categories. Chomsky, 1995) have made a principled distinction between functional and lexical categories. Functional categories and their feature sets have been proposed as the locus of all cross-linguistic differences (Borer, 1984). Learning a second language involves learning the new feature bundles in which the various formal. Formal linguistic approaches to research in second language acquisition (SLA) have focused mainly on the acquisition of features bundled onto functional categories. Form (lexical item)-function (feature) relationships in the first language (L1) and second language (L2) are not always equal. Learning how features are assembled or reassembled into lexical items is something that L2 learners must engage in when restructuring their grammars. The Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (FRH; Lardiere, 2008, 2009) stresses the reconfiguration of features that exist both in the L1 and L2

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Results

Conclusion