Development of the Abstraction of Second Language Learners' Syntactic Representation: Evidence from Structural Priming in Different Levels of Proficiency

華語為第二語言習得者之抽象句法表徵發展之探究：來自不同語言熟練度學習者句法激發之產出的證據

徐東伯(Dong-Bo Hsu)；林祐瑜(Yow-Yu Lin)

語言產出 ； 第二言習得 ； 主動賓與把字句轉換 ； 句法激發 ； 使用為基的語言學 ； language production ； second language ； SVO-ba alternation ； structural priming as learning ； usage-based linguistics

華語文教學研究

11卷3期（2014 / 09 / 01）

1 - 32

英文

本文旨在運用漢語中主動賓句以及把字句之間的轉換所產生的句法激發探究不同熟練程度之華語作為第二語言學習者之抽象句法表徵的發展並且運用所得之結果，探討適宜解釋此發展之語言產出以及習得之理論。運用漢語的「把」字句於世界語言中的特殊性來探究此議題，可以消弭先前研究使用不當之結構所產生之疑慮，較得以窺得第二語言學習者句法發展之全貌。實驗所得結果支持句法激發為學習的語言產出理論以及使用者為基的語言習得理論。

This study attempts to investigate the development of abstraction of syntax among adult Mandarin second language learners (hereafter L2ers) at different levels of proficiency with the Mandarin SVO-ba alternation using structural priming. The Mandarin ba-construction does not exist in L2ers' first language (L1). Strong L1 positive and negative transfer of word order upon structural priming obscures the chance to articulate how L2ers develop abstraction of syntax with changes in language proficiency. However, results indicate that structural priming co-varies with L2ers' levels of proficiency. Mandarin L2ers of intermediate proficiency or above exhibit structural priming whereas elementary L2ers do not. The results lend support to usage-based linguistics and an extended structural-priming-as-learning account. L2ers learned to develop a syntactic abstraction of the ba-construction through the accumulation of exemplars from input. Therefore, the learning mechanism acts on a learner's developed abstract representation of syntax to self-adapt in response to input, yielding structural priming.

1. Abbot-Smith, Kirsten,Lieven, Elena,Tomasello, Michael(2008).Graded representations in the acquisition of English and German transitive constructions.Cognitive Development,23(1),48-66.
2. Bates, Elizabeth,MacWhinney, Brian(1981).Second language acquisition from a functionalist perspective: Pragmatic, semantic and perceptual strategies.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Conference on Native and Foreign Language Acquisition,New York:
3. Belikova, Alyona,White, Lydia(2009).Evidence for the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis or not? Island constraints revisited.Studies in Second Language Acquisition,31(2),1-24.
4. Bencini, Giulia ML,Valian, Virginia V.(2008).Abstract sentence representations in three-year-olds: Evidence from language production and comprehension.Journal of Memory and Language,59(1),97-113.
5. Bender, Emily(2000).The syntax of Mandarin Ba: reconsidering the verbal analysis.Journal of East Asian Linguistics,9(2),105-145.
6. Bernolet, Sarah(2008).Belgium,University of Gent.
7. Bernolet, Sarah,Hartsuiker, Robert J.,Pickering, Martin J.(2012).Effects of phonological feedback on the selection of syntax: Evidence from between language syntactic priming.Bilingualism: Language and Cognition,15(3),503-516.
8. Bernolet, Sarah,Hartsuiker, Robert J.,Pickering, Martin J.(2007).Shared syntactic representations in bilinguals: Evidence for the role of word-order repetition.Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition,33(5),931-949.
9. Bley-Vroman, Robert(2009).The evolving context for the fundamental difference hypothesis.Studies in Second Language Acquisition,31(2),175-198.
10. Bley-Vroman, Robert(1990).The logical problem of foreign language learning.Linguistic Analysis,20(1-2),3-49.
11. Bock, J. Kathryn(1986).Syntactic persistence in language production.Cognitive Psychology,18(3),355-387.
12. Bock, Kathryn,Dell, Gary S.,Chang, Franklin,Onishi, Kristine H.(2007).Persistent structural priming from language comprehension to language production.Cognition,104(3),437-458.
13. Bock, Kathryn,Griffin, Zenzi M.(2000).The persistence of structural priming: Transient activation or implicit learning?.Journal of Experimental Psychology: General,129(2),177-192.
14. Brandt, Silke,Diessel, Holger,Tomasello, Michael(2008).The acquisition of German relative clauses: A case study.Journal of Child Language,35(2),325-348.
15. Brooks, Patricia J.,Tomasello, Michael(1999).Young children learn to produce passives with nonce verbs.Developmental Psychology,35(1),29-44.
16. Chang, Franklin(2009).Learning to order words: A connectionist model of heavy NP shift and accessibility effects in Japanese and English.Journal of Memory and Language,61(3),374-397.
17. Chang, Franklin,Dell, Gary S.,Bock, Kathryn(2006).Becoming syntactic.Psychological Review,113(2),234-272.
18. Chang, Franklin,Janciauskas, Marius,Fitz, Hartmut(2012).Language adaptation and learning: Getting explicit about implicit learning.Language and Linguistics Compass,6(5),259-278.
19. Cleland, Alexandra A.,Pickering, Martin J.(2003).The use of lexical and syntactic information in language production: Evidence from the priming of noun-phrase structure.Journal of Memory and Language,49(2),214-230.
20. Erbaugh, Mary Susan(1982).Berkeley,University of California.
21. Fisher, Cynthia(2002).The role of abstract syntactic knowledge in language acquisition: A reply to Tomasello (2000).Cognition,82(3),259-278.
22. Gámez, Perla B.,Shimpi, P. M.,Waterfall, H. R.,Huttenlocher, J.(2009).Priming a perspective in Spanish monolingual children: The use of syntactic alternatives.Journal of Child Language,36(2),269-290.
23. Gass, Susan M.(1987).The resolution of conflicts among competing systems: A bidirectional perspective.Applied Psycholinguistics,8(4),329-350.
24. Hartsuiker, Robert J.,Pickering, Martin J.,Veltkamp, Eline(2004).Is syntax separate or shared between languages? Cross-linguistic syntactic priming in Spanish-English bilinguals.Psychological Science,15(6),409-414.
25. Hsu, Dong-Bo(2014).Structural priming as learning: Evidence from Mandarin-learning five-year-olds.Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics,21(2),156-172.
26. Hsu, Dong-Bo(2014).Mandarin-speaking three-year-olds' demonstration of productive knowledge of syntax: Evidence from syntactic productivity and structural priming with the SVO-ba alternation.Journal of Child Language,41(5),1115-1146.
27. Huang, Yue-Yuan,Yang, Suying(2004).The acquisitional study of ba construction among speakers taking Mandarin as a second language.Chinese Teaching in the World,1,49-59.
28. Huttenlocher, Janellen,Vasilyeva, Marina,Shimpi, Priya(2004).Syntactic priming in young children.Journal of Memory and Language,50(2),182-195.
29. Kroll, J. F.(ed.),De Groot, A. M. B.(ed.)(2009).Handbook of Bilingualism: Psycholinguistic Approaches.New York:Oxford University Press.
30. Li, Ping,Bowerman, Melissa(1998).The acquisition of lexical and grammatical aspect in Chinese.First Language,18(54),311-350.
31. Liu, Hua,Bates, Elizabeth,Li, Ping(1992).Sentence interpretation in bilingual speakers of English and Chinese.Applied Psycholinguistics,13(4),451-484.
32. MacWhinney, B.(ed.)(1999).The Emergence of Language.NJ:Lawrence Erlbaum.
33. MacWhinney, E. B.(ed.),Bates, E.(ed.)(1989).The Crosslinguistic study of Sentence Processing.New York:Cambridge University Press.
34. McDonald, Janet L.(1987).Sentence interpretation in bilinguals speakers of English and Dutch.Applied Psycholinguistics,8(4),379-413.
35. McDonough, Kim(2006).Interaction and syntactic priming: English L2 Speakers' Production of Dative Constructions.Studies in Second Language Acquisition,28(2),179-207.
36. Morett, Laura M.,Macwhinney, Brian(2013).Syntactic transfer in English-speaking Spanish learners.Bilingualism: Language and Cognition,16(1),132-151.
37. Naigles, Letitia R.(2002).Form is easy, meaning is hard: resolving a paradox in early child language.Cognition,86(2),157-199.
38. Pickering, Martin J.,Branigan, Holly P.(1998).The representation of verbs: Evidence from syntactic priming in language production.Journal of Memory and Language,39(4),633-651.
39. Rowland, Caroline F.,Changa, Franklin,Ambridge, Ben,Pine, Julian M.,Lieven, Elena V. M.(2012).The development of abstract syntax: Evidence from structural priming and the lexical boost.Cognition,125(1),49-63.
40. Savage, Ceri,Lieven, Elena,Theakston, Anna,Tomasello, Michael(2003).Testing the abstractness of children's linguistics representations: Lexical and structural priming of syntactic constructions in young children.Developmental Sciences,6(5),557-567.
41. Savage, Ceri,Lieven, Elena,Theakston, Anna,Tomasello, Michael(2006).Structural priming as implicit learning in language acquisition: The persistence of lexical and structural priming in 4-year-olds.Language Learning & Development,2(1),27-49.
42. Schoonbaert, Sofie,Hartsuiker, Robert J.,Pickering, Martin J.(2007).The representation of lexical and syntactic information in bilinguals: Evidence from syntactic priming.Journal of Memory and Language,56(2),153-171.
43. Shimpi, Priya M.,Gámez, Perla B.,Huttenlocher, Janellen,Vasilyeva, Marina(2007).Syntactic priming in 3- and four-year-old children: Evidence for abstract representations of transitive and dative forms.Developmental Psychology,43(6),1334-1346.
44. Sun, Chao-Fen,Givón, Talmy(1985).On the so-called SOV word order in Mandarin Chinese: A quantified text study and its implications.Language,61,329-351.
45. Thothathiri, Malathi,Snedeker, Jesse(2008).Syntactic priming during language comprehension in 3- and 4-year-old children.Journal of Memory and Language,58(2),188-213.
46. Tomasello, Michael(1992).First Verbs: A Case Study of Early Grammatical Development.Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
47. Tomasello, Michael(2000).Do young children have adult syntactic competence?.Cognition,74(3),209-253.
48. Tomasello, Michael(2003).Constructing a language: A usage-based theory of language acquisition.Cambridge, USA:Harvard University Press.
49. Vasilyeva, Marina,Waterfall, Heidi,Gámez, Perla B.,Gómez, Ligia E.,Bowers, Edmond,Shimpi, Priya(2010).Cross-Linguistic syntactic priming in Spanish-English bilingual children.Journal of Child Language,37(5),1047-1064.
50. White, Lydia(2003).Second Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar.New York:Cambridge University Press.
51. Yang, Suying(1995).Ba and Bei constructions in Chinese.Journal of the Chinese Language Teachers Association,30(3),1-36.
52. Yuan, Sylvia,Fisher, Cynthia,Snedeker, Jesse(2012).Counting the nouns: Simple structural cues to verb meaning.Child Development,83(4),1382-1399.
53. Zou, Ke(1995).Los Angeles,University of Southern California.

1. HSU, Dong-Bo(2017).Second language learners' native-like grammatical processing: evidence from structural priming in Mandarin Chinese.華語文教學研究,14(3),71-108.
2. Lin, Yowyu(2015).Developmental Trajectory of Relative Clauses among Mandarin Learners of English.同心圓：語言學研究,41(1),63-94.
3. 徐東伯(2015)。語言使用者處理語句時運用的各式表徵。華語文教學研究，12(4)，45-75。