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How Chinese Learners Acquire Motion Expressions in English

Language and Cognitive Science / 2021,6(1): 29−43 / 2022-04-21 599 704

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• Authors: Yinglin      Ji     
• Information:

  Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China

• Keywords: language-specific influence; manner verb; motion event expression; path particle; second language acquisition
• Abstract: This study examines how Chinese adult learners of English acquire characteristic motion event expressions in English with an aim of determining which force mainly drives the rate and the progress of second language acquisition. 36 Chinese learners of English, as compared to a group of English monolingual speakers, were requested to describe voluntary motion events showing varied types of manner and path information (e.g. The man jumped across the tracks). Their utterances were analyzed at two levels: a) verb type (manner verb, path verb, general verb) at the lexical level and b) verb-supporting elements (particles, prepositional phrase, zero) at the grammatical level. The results of statistical analyses such as chi-square and one-way ANOVA reveal that although, in general, Chinese learners of English can acquire the typical patterns of motion expression in English, those of intermediate and low proficiencies use specific manner verbs and path particles at a significantly low frequency as compared to English monolinguals. These results show that second language learners have not fully dispensed with the constraints of their native language, suggesting, in general, that languagespecific factors play an important role in second language acquisition.
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.35534/lcs.0601002
• Cite:

  Yinglin Ji．How Chinese Learners Acquire Motion Expressions in English［J］．Language and Cognitive Science，2021，6（1）：29−43．