1887
Volume 14, Issue 2
  • ISSN 1879-9264
  • E-ISSN: 1879-9272
USD
Buy:$35.00 + Taxes

Abstract

Abstract

This article investigates the L2 acquisition of the Chinese plural maker - by English and Korean speakers within the framework of the Feature Reassembly Hypothesis (FRH) (Lardiere, 2009). The Chinese plural suffix -, the Korean plural suffix -, and the English plural suffix - share some properties and differ on others. Thirty-two English-speaking learners and thirty-five Korean-speaking learners of Chinese of advanced and intermediate proficiency were tested using a truth value judgment task and a grammaticality judgment task. Results show that: (i) all the L2 groups have acquired the target feature set of - (i.e., [plural, specific, human]); (ii) the two English groups and the advanced Korean group but not the intermediate Korean group have acquired the conditions on the overt realization of - (i.e., optionality with demonstratives and prohibition with classifiers). The results are consistent with the FRH: differences in how features are assembled in lexical items and differences in conditions on feature realization between the L1 and L2 lead to acquisition difficulty; such difficulty can be overcome, though native-like performance is not guaranteed.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/lab.21025.su
2022-09-08
2025-04-19
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Chierchia, G.
    (1998a) Plurality of mass nouns and the notion of semantic parameter. InS. Rothstein (Ed.), Events and grammar (pp. 53–103). Kluwer. 10.1007/978‑94‑011‑3969‑4_4
    https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3969-4_4 [Google Scholar]
  2. (1998b) Reference to kinds across languages. Natural Language Semantics, 6(4), 339–405. 10.1023/A:1008324218506
    https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008324218506 [Google Scholar]
  3. Cho, J., & Slabakova, R.
    (2014) Interpreting definiteness in a second language without articles: The case of L2 Russian. Second Language Research, 30(2), 159–190. 10.1177/0267658313509647
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658313509647 [Google Scholar]
  4. Corbett, G.
    (2000) Number. Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9781139164344
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139164344 [Google Scholar]
  5. Guo, Y.
    (2022) From a simple to a complex aspectual system: Feature reassembly in L2 acquisition of Chinese imperfective markers by English speakers. Second Language Research, 38(1), 89–116. 10.1177/0267658320911433
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658320911433 [Google Scholar]
  6. Hwang, S. H.
    (2013) The acquisition of Korean plural marking by native English speakers. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Georgetown University.
  7. Hwang, S. H., & Lardiere, D.
    (2013) Plural-marking in L2 Korean: A feature-based approach. Second Language Research, 29(1), 57–86. 10.1177/0267658312461496
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658312461496 [Google Scholar]
  8. Ionin, T., Montrul, S., & Crivos, M.
    (2013) A bidirectional study on the acquisition of plural noun phrase interpretation in English and Spanish. Applied Psycholinguistics, 34(3), 483–518. 10.1017/S0142716411000841
    https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716411000841 [Google Scholar]
  9. Lardiere, D.
    (2009) Some thoughts on the contrastive analysis of features in second language acquisition. Second Language Research, 25(2), 173–227. 10.1177/0267658308100283
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658308100283 [Google Scholar]
  10. Lee, E.
    (2015) L2 acquisition of number marking: A bidirectional study of adult learners of Korean and Indonesian. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Georgetown University.
  11. Lee, E., & Lardiere, D.
    (2019) Feature reassembly in the acquisition of plural marking by Korean and Indonesian bilinguals: A bidirectional study. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism, 9(1), 73–119. 10.1075/lab.16018.lee
    https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.16018.lee [Google Scholar]
  12. Li, X. Q.
    (2004) Boya Chinese: Volume 1. Peking University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Li, Y. H.
    (1999) Plurality in a classifier language. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 81, 75–99. 10.1023/A:1008306431442
    https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008306431442 [Google Scholar]
  14. Lyons, C.
    (1999) Definiteness. Cambridge University Press. 10.1017/CBO9780511605789
    https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511605789 [Google Scholar]
  15. Nomoto, H.
    (2013a) Definite-like plurals. [Unpublished manuscript]. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. (2013b) Number in classifier languages. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Minnesota.
  17. Prawatmuang, W.
    (2017) Effects of positive evidence, indirect negative evidence and form-function transparency on second language acquisition: Evidence form L2 Chinese and L2 Thai. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Cambridge.
  18. Schwartz, B., & Sprouse, R.
    (1994) Word order and nominative case in nonnative language acquisition: A longitudinal study of (L1 Turkish) German interlanguage. InT. Hoekstra, & B. Schwartz (Eds.), Language acquisition studies in generative grammar (pp. 317–368). John Benjamins. 10.1075/lald.8.14sch
    https://doi.org/10.1075/lald.8.14sch [Google Scholar]
  19. Schwartz, B., & Spouse, R.
    (1996) L2 cognitive states and the full transfer/full access model. Second Language Research, 12(1), 40–72. 10.1177/026765839601200103
    https://doi.org/10.1177/026765839601200103 [Google Scholar]
  20. Su, J.
    (2019) Reassembly of plural and human features in the L2 acquisition of Chinese by adult Korean speakers. Second Language Research, 35(4), 529–555. 10.1177/0267658318789223
    https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658318789223 [Google Scholar]
  21. Yang, C.
    (2002) Knowledge and learning in natural language. Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. (2004) Universal Grammar, statistics or both?Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(10), 451–456. 10.1016/j.tics.2004.08.006
    https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2004.08.006 [Google Scholar]
  23. Yang, R.
    (1998) Chinese bare nouns as kind-denoting terms. RuLing Papers, 11, 247–288.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Yorifuji, A.
    (1976) Men ni Tsuite / “A study of the suffix -men”. Area and Cultural Studies, 261, 73–88.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Zhang, N.
    (2014) Expressing number productively in Mandarin Chinese. Linguistics, 52(1), 1–34. 10.1515/ling‑2013‑0055
    https://doi.org/10.1515/ling-2013-0055 [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/lab.21025.su
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/lab.21025.su
Loading

Data & Media loading...

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error