Measures of anaphoric-reflexive acquisition in Chinese

Darcy Sperlich*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book or Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

This chapter investigates the second language acquisition of the Chinese reflexive ziji 'self' by English and Korean speakers. The aim is to utilize cognitive and behavioural measures in order to investigate the hypothesis that Chinese and Korean reflexives are pragmatically regulated, while English reflexives are syntactically governed. The measures used are reaction timing, confidence levels and knowledge source attribution. The experiment specifically examines how a processing account of reflexives can support a pragmatic/syntactic distinction of reflexive regulation in linguistic theory by observing how long-distance and local binding is achieved in neutral and biased contexts. Results reveal that English and Korean learners of Chinese have differing sources of language transfer affecting their interpretation of Chinese ziji. Overall, the measures obtained shows their power in understanding what underlies traditional antecedent judgements.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationLanguage Faculty and Beyond
PublisherJohn Benjamins Publishing Company
Pages142-164
Number of pages23
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Publication series

NameLanguage Faculty and Beyond
Volume18
ISSN (Print)1877-6531

Keywords

  • Chinese
  • English
  • Korean
  • pragmatics
  • reflexive pronoun
  • syntax
  • ziji

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