Doctoral Dissertation Research: Information Structure and Dative Word-Order Alternations in English and Korean: L1 Children, L2 Children, and L2 Adults

博士论文研究：英语和韩语的信息结构和与格词序交替：L1儿童、L2儿童和L2成人

• 批准号: 1124618
• 负责人: Bonnie Schwartz
• 金额: $ 1.2万
• 依托单位: University of Hawaii
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-08-15 至 2013-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1124618&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Information; Structure

The goal of this dissertation research is to investigate effects of information structure on word-order alternations as language develops, in both first language (L1) and second language (L2). Previous research has shown that adult native speakers tend to place given/old information before new information; this is called the "Given-before-New" principle. For example, in a situation where "the pie" is the topic of discussion, adult speakers are more likely to say "Sandy brought the pie to some friends" than "Sandy brought some friends the pie."In L1 acquisition, some researchers have suggested that young children fail to comply with the Given-before-New principle because they are unable to distinguish what they know/believe from what others know/believe. This account, called the Theory of Mind (ToM) account, has not been tested experimentally. This dissertation project will investigate, for both English and Korean, whether children who show sensitivity to what others know/believe also obey the Given-before-New principle. In addition, this project will investigate, in both Korean-speaking learners of English and English-speaking learners of Korean, whether knowledge of the Given-before-New principle automatically transfers from L1 to L2.Data will be collected via: (i) a novel "Oral Contextualized Preference task," in which participants listen to pairs of sentences following stories and choose their preference; (ii) an Oral Acceptability-Judgment task, in which participants listen to short dialogues between two characters and decide the acceptability of test sentences; (iii) a False-Belief task to assess children's mastery of ToM; and (iv) a Picture-Description task to measure L2 proficiency.This is the first bidirectional study on word-order preference in association with information status, across different age groups using the same innovative methods, in both L1 and L2. It is also the first experimental study of the Given-before-New principle in Korean. The results should therefore be of immediate interest to scholars of English and Korean, language development, and language pedagogy. Another impact is the potential to extend a new experimental paradigm to other language domains. The project will enhance the infrastructure for international research, and will provide the student co-PI with extensive training in many aspects of language research.

本论文研究的目标是调查第一语言 (L1) 和第二语言 (L2) 中信息结构对语言发展过程中词序交替的影响。先前的研究表明，以成人为母语的人倾向于将给定/旧的信息放在新信息之前；这就是所谓的“GivenbeforeNew”原则。例如，在“馅饼”成为讨论主题的情况下，成人说话者更有可能说“桑迪给一些朋友带来了馅饼”而不是“桑迪给一些朋友带来了馅饼”。在 L1 习得中，一些研究人员表明幼儿未能遵守“先给后新”原则，因为他们无法区分自己所知道/相信的与其他人所知道/相信的。这个账户被称为心智理论（ToM）账户，尚未经过实验测试。本论文项目将针对英语和韩语研究那些对其他人所知道/相信的事物表现出敏感性的孩子是否也遵守“先给后新”原则。此外，该项目将调查英语韩语学习者和韩语英语学习者的“先给后新”原则知识是否自动从 L1 转移到 L2。数据将通过以下方式收集：(i)一项新颖的“口头语境偏好任务”，参与者听故事后的成对句子并选择他们的偏好； (ii) 口头可接受性判断任务，参与者聆听两个角色之间的简短对话并决定测试句子的可接受性； (iii) 错误信念任务，用于评估儿童对 ToM 的掌握情况； (iv) 衡量 L2 熟练程度的图片描述任务。这是第一个针对不同年龄组的语序偏好与信息状态相关的双向研究，在 L1 和 L2 中使用相同的创新方法。这也是韩语中对先给后新原则的首次实验研究。因此，研究结果应该引起英语和韩语、语言发展和语言教育学学者的直接兴趣。另一个影响是将新的实验范式扩展到其他语言领域的潜力。该项目将加强国际研究的基础设施，并将为学生联合首席研究员提供语言研究许多方面的广泛培训。