The Push and Pull of Syntax and Pragmatics over Reflexives: The System Exchange Hypothesis
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As learners of a second language progress past the advanced stage, there are certain features that may continue to set near-native speakers apart from native speakers. This may be apparent in non-native like acquisition of the phonology (retaining L1 features), having a non-native like control of the grammar, or not having a full sociopragmatic understanding. In this study, we examine bilinguals’ understanding of reflexive pronouns that straddle the syntactic-pragmatic interface due to how their L1 and L2 process reflexives. Exploratory by nature, we examine five native English speakers, one Spanish speaker and one Chinese speaker with a mixed background. The aim of this article is to understand their interpretation of the Chinese reflexive pronoun ziji ‘self’which is understood here to be pragmatically regulated (Huang 2000). The key question is whether the participants have a native-like interpretation of ziji, matched with native-like processing. This is achieved by using phased choice methodology (Sperlich 2015) and using subjective measures of confidence and knowledge source, including reaction timing, to arrive at a well-rounded understanding of how the judgement was made. Ultimately, it is found that pragmatic ziji does present some difficulties for our participants, namely they have continued difficulty in selecting for the long-distant antecedent given their preference for the local antecedent, which is reflected in timing measures. Thus, they have yet to fully transition their L2 anaphoric systems to a pragmatic-style one as is present in Chinese, presenting a possible area of fossilization. This issue gives raise to the System Exchange Hypothesis introduced in this study.
Abstract
As learners of a second language progress past the advanced stage, there are certain features that may continue to set near-native speakers apart from native speakers. This may be apparent in non-native like acquisition of the phonology (retaining L1 features), having a non-native like control of the grammar, or not having a full sociopragmatic understanding. In this study, we examine bilinguals’ understanding of reflexive pronouns that straddle the syntactic-pragmatic interface due to how their L1 and L2 process reflexives. Exploratory by nature, we examine five native English speakers, one Spanish speaker and one Chinese speaker with a mixed background. The aim of this article is to understand their interpretation of the Chinese reflexive pronoun ziji ‘self’which is understood here to be pragmatically regulated (Huang 2000). The key question is whether the participants have a native-like interpretation of ziji, matched with native-like processing. This is achieved by using phased choice methodology (Sperlich 2015) and using subjective measures of confidence and knowledge source, including reaction timing, to arrive at a well-rounded understanding of how the judgement was made. Ultimately, it is found that pragmatic ziji does present some difficulties for our participants, namely they have continued difficulty in selecting for the long-distant antecedent given their preference for the local antecedent, which is reflected in timing measures. Thus, they have yet to fully transition their L2 anaphoric systems to a pragmatic-style one as is present in Chinese, presenting a possible area of fossilization. This issue gives raise to the System Exchange Hypothesis introduced in this study.
참고문헌 (28)
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