1887
Volume 117, Issue 1
  • ISSN 0019-0829
  • E-ISSN: 1783-1490
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Abstract

This study investigates the acquisition of Chinese aspect markers of and by English-speaking learners at the university level. The speech and written data produced by students at two different levels of proficiency were collected, compared and analyzed. The results show that English-speaking learners of Chinese acquire the perfective aspect marker and the past experience marker before the durative aspect marker . The process by which learners acquire the aspect markers appears be meaning-based and can be summarized into: 1) looking for logical temporal sequences; 2) using time adverbials and conjunction for the time references; 3) using lexical aspects and word meanings; and 4) using pragmatic cues with the aspect markers of and . Learners, especially at the lower level of proficiency, rely more on the time adverbial expressions and lexical aspects than learners at the more advanced level.

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/content/journals/10.1075/itl.117-118.01wen
1997-01-01
2025-02-17
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