摘要
时态和体在第一和第二语言中都得到了广泛研究。但是,先前有关时态和体的研究,主要关注的是二语学习者语素习得的发展顺序,有关英语(作为外语的)学习者对于时态和体的语义意义的理解的研究并不多。
本文旨在探讨中国英语学习者是如何理解语法体所表达的语义意义,如何理解终结性和非终结性特征以及他们对语法体,词汇体和时态之间的原型搭配或非原型搭配有怎样的偏好。本文同时将中国英语学习者与英语母语者对英语体特征的理解进行了比较,以求找出两者所表现出的共同特征以及存在的差异。本研究对受试进行了句子理解测试和句子偏好测试。受试由六组不同英语水平的240名中国大学生(每组包括40名受试),和40名本族语为英语的美国大学生组成。本研究的研究问题是：
1.中国英语学习者和英语母语者是如何理解一般现在时和现在进行体状态动词,一般过去时和过去进行体终结性动词所表达的语义对比的?
2.中国英语学习者和英语母语者是如何理解动词+直接宾语、动词+介词短语和动词+(无)小品词所表达的终结性和非终结性语义特征的?
3.在语法体、词汇体和时态的原型搭配(如,完整体,终结性和过去时)和非原型搭配(如,非完整体,终结性和过去时)之间,中国英语学习者和英语母语者偏好哪一个?
4.中国英语学习者和英语母语者在理解语法体所表达的语义对比,终结性和非终结性语义特征以及原型搭配和非原型搭配的偏好上表现出什么样的共同特征,以及存在什么样的差异?
研究结果表明：与英语母语者一致,中国英语学习者区分出了一般现在时和现在进行体状态动词,一般过去时和过去进行体终结性动词所表达的语义对比。中国英语学习者和英语母语者理解了动词+直接宾语,动词+介词短语以及动词+(无)小品词所表达的终结性和非终结性语义特征。
中国英语学习者和英语母语者对于原型和非原型搭配的偏好随着动词类型的不同而不同。对于状态动词而言,二者一致偏好一般现在时状态动词(原型搭配)；对于完结动词而言,只有英语中级水平组和英语高水平组与英语母语者表现一致,他们认为一般过去时完结动词和过去进行体完结动词同样合理；对于达成动词而言,中国英语学习者更加偏好一般过去时达成动词,而英语母语者认为一般过去时达成动词和过去进行体达成动词同样合理。
中国英语学习者和英语母语者在对于英语体特征的理解上展现出了一些共同特征：二者的表现支持了体特征是构成性的论断以及原型理论。尽管如此,二者之间在对于英语体特征的理解上还是存在着显著差异。中国英语学习者对于英语体特征的理解受到了母语的影响。英语中级水平组和英语高水平组在对于英语体特征的理解上呈现出了与本族语者相似的趋势,但是未能达到本族语者水平。不同英语水平的中国英语学习者之间也存在差异。中国英语学习者对于英语体特征的理解力未能随着其英语能力的提高而逐渐接近本族语者水平,即,其理解力呈现出非直线形发展。大体上来说,非英语高、中、低三个组别和英语低水平组表现一致,英语中级水平组和英语高水平组表现一致。另外,非英语中级水平组还表现出了一些独特的特征。
Tense and aspect have been widely investigated in both first language (L1) and second language (L2). However, the previous studies on tense and aspect mainly focused on the developmental sequence of morphology in the L2acquisition. How the learners of English as foreign language (EFL learners) comprehended the semantic meaning encoded in tense and aspect is under-explored.
This dissertation is designed to investigate how the Chinese EFL learners interpret the semantic meaning of grammatical aspect, how they comprehend the semantic feature of telicity/atelicity, and which combinations of grammatical aspect, lexical aspect and tense they prefer, prototypical or nonprototypical ones. The performance of the Chinese EFL learners is then compared with that of the native speakers of English, so as to find out the shared features and differences in their comprehension of English aspect. In this study, a sentence interpretation test and a sentence preference test are conducted to fulfill the research purpose. The participants include Chinese college students at6proficiency levels (with40participants in each), and40native English speaking undergraduates. The research questions to be addressed in this dissertation are:
1. How do the Chinese EFL learners and the native speakers of English interpret the semantic contrast between the simple present and present progressive on stative verbs, simple past and past progressive on telic verbs?
2. How do the Chinese EFL learners and the native speakers of English comprehend the semantic feature of telicity/atelicity expressed by verb+direct object/prepositional phrase/(no) particle?
3. Which combinations of grammatical aspect, lexical aspect and tense do the Chinese EFL learners and the native speakers of English prefer, prototypical ones (e.g., perfective, telic and past tense) or nonprototypical ones (e.g., imperfective, telic and past tense)?
4. What are the shared features and differences exhibited by the Chinese EFL learners at different proficiency levels and the native speakers of English in the interpretation of the semantic contrast between grammatical aspects, the comprehension of the semantic feature of telicity/atelicity and the preference for prototypical and nonprototypical combinations?
The research findings are:both the native speakers of English and the Chinese EFL learners detected the semantic contrast entailed by the simple present and present progressive on stative verbs, simple past and past progressive on telic verbs. Both the native speakers of English and the Chinese EFL learners comprehended the semantic feature of telicity/atelicity expressed by verb+direct object/prepositional phrase/(no) particle.
The preference for prototypical and nonprototypical combinations varied according to verb categories. Both the Chinese EFL learners and the native speakers of English preferred stative verb sentence in the simple present form. Only English intermediate group and English high group performed like the native speakers of English in preferring accomplishment verbs in both simple past and past progressive form. All Chinese EFL learners preferred achievement verb sentence in the simple past form, while the native speakers of English preferred achievement verb sentence in both simple past form and past progressive form.
The Chinese EFL learners and the native speakers of English exhibited certain shared features:their performance provides evidence for the composite nature of aspect and Prototype Theory. In spite of the common features, the Chinese EFL learners did perform differently from the native speakers of English, revealing evidence of L1transfer. Furthermore, English intermediate group and English high group exhibited similar pattern as the native speakers of English, but their performance did not reach native-like level. The Chinese EFL learners performed differently across proficiency levels as well, exhibiting non-linear progression towards the native-like level in the comprehension of English aspect. Nonetheless, generally speaking, two patterns were found: one was shared by three non-English groups and English low group, the other was shared by English intermediate group and English high group. There were also some unique features exhibited by non-English intermediate group.
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