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DEFINITE DISCOURSE-NEW REFERENCE IN L1 AND L2

THE CASE OF L2 MANDARIN

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Peter Crosthwaite Open the ORCID record for Peter Crosthwaite [Opens in a new window] ,
Yuk Yeung ,
Xuefei Bai ,
Li Lu  and
Yeonsuk Bae
Peter Crosthwaite*
Affiliation:
University of Queensland
Yuk Yeung
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
Xuefei Bai
Affiliation:
Huang Xiao Chu New Life Company (Ltd.), Beijing
Li Lu
Affiliation:
Luk Chan Chinese Language School, Hong Kong
Yeonsuk Bae
Affiliation:
Pukyong National University, Busan, Korea
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Peter Crosthwaite, School of Languages and Cultures, University of Queensland. E-mail: p.cros@uq.edu.au
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Abstract

Definite discourse-new bridging reference (e.g., a school … the teacher; Clark, 1975) is a complex syntax-pragmatic component of referential movement, one that is subject to relatively opaque form-function contingency compared with forms used for discourse-old reference, and one that is especially prone to crosslinguistic influence. Research shows Asian second language (L2) learners of English struggle to produce bridging reference appropriately, yet little research has been done on the L2 production of bridging in Asian languages. We collected oral picture sequence narrative data from 80 lower-intermediate L2 Mandarin learners from first language (L1) English (+ article, n = 23) and L1 Korean and Japanese (- article, n = 57) backgrounds, alongside equivalent L1 data. Speakers of article-L1s were more likely than those from article-less L1s to use numeral + classifier noun phrases (NPs) for nonbridging referents and demonstrative + classifier NPs when introducing bridging referents, essentially (and infelicitously) using these constructions as de facto English-like indefinite/definite articles in their L2 Mandarin production. Speakers of article-less languages infelicitously marked bridging relations with nonbridging forms. These findings confirm substantial crosslinguistic difficulties for the L2 marking of this complex syntax-pragmatic phenomenon across relatively underexplored L1/L2 pairs.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 40 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 625 - 649
Open Practices
Open materials
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

We would like to extend our thanks to all our participants, and to Kim Yu-Na for illustrating the picture sequence materials used during data collection.

The experiment in this article earned an Open Materials badge for transparent practices. The materials are available at https://www.iris-database.org/iris/app/home/detail?id=york:933361

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