Doctoral Dissertation Research: Resumptive Relative Clause Dependencies in the Processing of Second Language English

博士论文研究：第二语言英语处理中的恢复性关系从句依存关系

• 批准号: 2141214
• 负责人: Bonnie Schwartz
• 金额: $ 1.67万
• 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: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-02-15 至 2024-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2141214&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Resumptive; Relative

The study of second language (L2) learning has much to tell us about the basic properties of the human mind/brain. This dissertation project investigates “resumptive relative clauses” or RRCs - phrases such as “the man that the police arrested him”, a conspicuous feature of L2 English speech and writing. RRCs are ungrammatical in some languages including English but are possible in other languages such as Mandarin Chinese. Surprisingly, RRCs are often observed in L2 speech and writing even when they are impossible in both the native language and the L2. These "interlanguage" features that cannot be traced to either the speaker's first or second language offer insight into the nature of the human language system and its development independent of the properties of individual languages. Second language learning is of growing importance in our increasingly globalized world, and an understanding of the L2 learning process and how interlanguage features emerge is critical to the development of language teaching methods.Drawing on recent methodological innovations in the psycholinguistics literature on native speakers, this project investigates whether RRCs in English represent a genuine grammatical option in the L2 learner’s developing language system and/or a subconscious strategy for managing cognitive load during real-time sentence processing. In addition to a control group of native English speakers, L2 learners of English whose native language either has or does not have RRCs undertake a series of experimental tasks probing the production, comprehension, and acceptability of English resumptive vs. non-resumptive relative clauses in three increasingly complex sentence types. The L2 learners complete two versions of the acceptability task - one in English and one in their native language- so that their knowledge with respect to the (im)possibility of RRCs can be compared across the two languages. This line of research addresses key questions related to L2 knowledge, L2 use, and the development of each.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

对第二语言（L2）学习的研究可以告诉我们人类思想/大脑的基本特性。该论文项目调查了“恢复性相对条款”或RRCS-诸如“警察逮捕他的人”之类的短语，这是L2英语演讲和写作的显着特征。 RRC在某些语言（包括英语）中是无语法的，但在其他语言（例如普通话）中可能是可能的。令人惊讶的是，即使在母语和L2上都不可能，在L2语音和写作中经常观察到RRC。这些无法追溯到说话者的第一语言或第二语言的“中间语言”功能，可以洞悉人类语言系统的性质及其发展，独立于单个语言的属性。第二语言学习在我们日益全球化的世界中变得越来越重要，对L2学习过程的理解以及中介功能如何出现对于语言教学方法的发展至关重要。绘制对母语人士的心理语言学文献的最新方法论创新，该项目在英语中的RRC在语言中的实时策略是否代表了L2 Learnect的真正语言阶段，或 加工。除了对照组的英语母语人士之外，L2英语学习者的母语具有或没有RRC的人，他们执行了一系列的实验任务，以探测三种日益复杂的句子中英语简历与非重复性相对条款的生产，理解和可接受性。 L2学习者完成了可接受性任务的两个版本 - 一个用英语和其母语 - 这样，可以在两种语言上比较他们对RRC的可能性的了解。这一研究解决了与L2知识，L2使用以及每个研究的开发有关的关键问题。该奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并使用基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响评估标准，被视为通过评估而被视为珍贵的支持。