ERIC Number: EJ989383
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Dec
Pages: 28
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0272-2631
EISSN: N/A
"WH"-Topicalization at the Syntax-Discourse Interface in English Speakers' L2 Chinese Grammars
Yuan, Boping; Dugarova, Esuna
Studies in Second Language Acquisition, v34 n4 p533-560 Dec 2012
Although "wh"-words generally stay in situ in Chinese "wh"-questions, they can be topicalized. However, the "wh"-topicalization is determined at the syntax-discourse interface and has to be governed by discourse conditions; only discourse-linked (D-linked) "wh"-words can be topicalized, but non-D-linked ones cannot. This article reports on an empirical study that investigated English speakers' second language (L2) acquisition of Chinese "wh"-topicalization. The results of an acceptability judgment test indicate that advanced English speakers are sensitive to the discourse condition that governs the syntactic derivation of "wh"-topicalization in Chinese, as they were found to be able to make the distinction in their L2 Chinese by allowing D-linked, but not non-D-linked, "wh"-elements to topicalize. However, these results also indicate that "wh"-determiner phrases (DPs) and "wh"-noun phrases (NPs) differ in their sensitivity to presupposition background information in L2 Chinese "wh"-topicalization, and it is argued that the availability of the deictic feature in the "wh"-element involved is a variable affecting the D-linking properties of "wh"-elements in the development of L2 Chinese "wh"-topicalization, and this seems more likely to be a representational deficit than a processing problem.
Descriptors: Native Speakers, Nouns, Syntax, Second Language Learning, Chinese, Grammar, Discourse Analysis, Language Research, Form Classes (Languages), Language Processing, English, Phrase Structure
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
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Language: English
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