Nominal phrases in English and Japanese speakers' L2 Mandarin grammars
type: CreativeWork
description: This thesis aims to examine the extent to which native languages (Ll) influence interlanguage development and whether there exis,ts a direct link between the suppliance of appropriate morphemes and the presence of their syntactic properties in interlanguage grammars. To answer these questions, this thesis investigates adult second language (L2) acquisition of Mandarin nominal phrases by Japanese and English learners. Four nominal prope1iies shared by Mandarin and Japanese are the classifier projection (ClP), the incompatibility of . \ . the numeral-classifier phrase with the plural marker, adjectival possessives and the co-occurrence of determinative elements, all of which differentiate these two languages from English. T.h is study involves 80 Japanese learners and 80 . English learners (placed at four proficiency levels) and 20 Mandarin native speakers as controls. Two data-collecting tasks are employed in this study: an acceptability judgment task for the four Mandarin nominal prope1iies and a � fill-in-the-blank task for. the semantic selection of Mandarin classifiers. Our results from the acceptability judgment task suggest that Ll transfer is not absolute in L2 Mandarin. More specifically, Japanese learners only transfer adjectival possessives, but not ClP and the co-occurrence of determinative elements, to their initial L2 Mandarin. This absence of Ll transfer of ClP and the co-occurrence of determinative . elements is likely to be due to the markedness in terms of the implicational universal. Intriguingly, it is found that ClP and its associated syntactic specifications are gradually developed in English and Japanese learners' L2 Mandarin. Initially, English and Japanese measure words are incorrectly used to accommodate classifiers, and then ClP is projected without any syntactic specifications. Subsequently, the syntactic specifications of ClP are gradually specified. However, the incompatibility of the numeral-classifier phrase with the plural marker is st…
abstract: This thesis aims to examine the extent to which native languages (Ll) influence interlanguage development and whether there exis,ts a direct link between the suppliance of appropriate morphemes and the presence of their syntactic properties in interlanguage grammars. To answer these questions, this thesis investigates adult second language (L2) acquisition of Mandarin nominal phrases by Japanese and English learners. Four nominal prope1iies shared by Mandarin and Japanese are the classifier projection (ClP), the incompatibility of . \ . the numeral-classifier phrase with the plural marker, adjectival possessives and the co-occurrence of determinative elements, all of which differentiate these two languages from English. T.h is study involves 80 Japanese learners and 80 . English learners (placed at four proficiency levels) and 20 Mandarin native speakers as controls. Two data-collecting tasks are employed in this study: an acceptability judgment task for the four Mandarin nominal prope1iies and a � fill-in-the-blank task for. the semantic selection of Mandarin classifiers. Our results from the acceptability judgment task suggest that Ll transfer is not absolute in L2 Mandarin. More specifically, Japanese learners only transfer adjectival possessives, but not ClP and the co-occurrence of determinative elements, to their initial L2 Mandarin. This absence of Ll transfer of ClP and the co-occurrence of determinative . elements is likely to be due to the markedness in terms of the implicational universal. Intriguingly, it is found that ClP and its associated syntactic specifications are gradually developed in English and Japanese learners' L2 Mandarin. Initially, English and Japanese measure words are incorrectly used to accommodate classifiers, and then ClP is projected without any syntactic specifications. Subsequently, the syntactic specifications of ClP are gradually specified. However, the incompatibility of the numeral-classifier phrase with the plural marker is st…
author: Liang, Yu-Chang
language: eng
license: https://apollo8-f-pro.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/9a19a206-90e6-4382-b207-f51d4b29d995/download
license: https://www.rioxx.net/licenses/all-rights-reserved/
date published: 2006-10-24
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:24:28Z
provider: Cambridge University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Cambridge

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.17863/CAM.11659