An Empirical Study on the Asymmetric L2 Acquisition of Expletive it as Formal Subjects and as Formal Objects in Chinese-English Interlanguage Grammar

Journal of Beijing International Studies University ›› 2014, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (12): 10-.

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An Empirical Study on the Asymmetric L2 Acquisition of Expletive it as Formal Subjects and as Formal Objects in Chinese-English Interlanguage Grammar

Ma Zhigang

Guangdong University of Foreign Studies，Guangzhou 510420，China

Received:2014-10-13 Online:2018-03-20 Published:2014-12-31

汉—英中介语语法中虚指词it作形式主语和形式宾语的非对称性实证研究

马志刚

广东外语外贸大学　广东广州　510420

作者简介:马志刚（1971—　），男，博士，广东外语外贸大学外国语言学及应用语言学研究中心副研究员，主要研究方向为句法学、二语习得、词典学。
基金资助:
本文为国家社科基金项目“基于语料库的汉英会话自我修补对比研究”（项目编号：14BYY149）成果。

Abstract

Abstract: Taking L2 grammar competence as a covariate variable，this study，by empirically exploring Non-English Majors’ L2 acquisition of English expletive it，reveals the following acquisitional tendency in interlanguage grammar：expletive it can be acquired by L2 learners more easily as formal subjects than as formal objects．Resorting to the Interpretability Hypothesis and the frequency of expletive it in L2 input，this study puts forward a principled proposal for the acquisitional asymmetry in interlanguage grammar：expletive it appears in the L2 input as formal objects with a much lower frequency than as formal subjects；expletive it when used as formal objects carries an additional case feature in addition to person and number features．These two features of expletive it as formal objects well account for the L2 acquisitional outcome that expletive it can be acquired as formal subjects to a much fuller extent than as formal objects．

Keywords: English expletive it; formal subjects; formal objects; person feature; number feature; case feature

摘要： 以二语语法能力作为协变量探讨非英语专业大学生习得英语虚指词it的实证研究揭示出英语虚指词it在中介语语法中的习得模式：作形式主语易于习得而作形式宾语难以习得。基于可解读性假说和二语输入频率，本文对虚指词it在中介语语法中的不对称性习得结果作出了解释：形式宾语it的输入频率不仅远低于形式主语it，而且除了人称和数特征外，形式宾语it还可能承载了额外的格位特征，从而导致其中介语习得程度远低于形式主语it。

关键词: 虚指词it, 形式主语, 形式宾语, 人称特征, 数特征, 格位特征

Ma Zhigang. An Empirical Study on the Asymmetric L2 Acquisition of Expletive it as Formal Subjects and as Formal Objects in Chinese-English Interlanguage Grammar[J]. Journal of Beijing International Studies University, 2014, 36(12): 10-.

马志刚. 汉—英中介语语法中虚指词it作形式主语和形式宾语的非对称性实证研究[J]. 北京第二外国语学院学报, 2014, 36(12): 10-.

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An Empirical Study on the Asymmetric L2 Acquisition of Expletive it as Formal Subjects and as Formal Objects in Chinese-English Interlanguage Grammar

汉—英中介语语法中虚指词it作形式主语和形式宾语的非对称性实证研究

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