Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-11T09:34:00.310Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The expression of caused motion by adult Chinese learners of English*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 April 2014

YINGLIN JI  and
JILL HOHENSTEIN
YINGLIN JI*
Affiliation:
Shenzhen University, PR China
JILL HOHENSTEIN
Affiliation:
King’s College London, UK
*
†Address for correspondence: Yinglin Ji, Research Center for Language and Cognition, School of Foreign Languages, Shenzhen University, No. 3688 Nanhai Avenue, Shenzhen City, Guangdong Province, P. R. China; e-mail: yinglin.ji@szu.edu.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although spatial understanding by human beings tends to be universal, the linguistic system to represent one’s spatial experience varies significantly across languages. This study explores implications of this contrast in the field of second language acquisition by examining how adult Chinese learners of English express caused motion in an experimental situation in which they are asked to describe animation clips showing caused motion with varied types of Manner and Path to an imaginary remote addressee. Our findings showed that across proficiencies, L2 learners acclimated to the target system very rapidly and produced responses that were target-like with respect to the selection of motion components and the syntactic means to organize selected information components over an utterance. These results suggest that the acquisition process of caused motion can be facilitated when L1 and L2 share some typological properties and the target system to be acquired is the simple and unambiguous one of the two typological patterns concerned.

Keywords

Caused motionmotion-event typologymultiple information componentsdegree of explicitnesssyntactic means for caused motion expressions
Type
Research Article
Information
Language and Cognition , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , December 2014 , pp. 427 - 461
Copyright
Copyright © UK Cognitive Linguistics Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

We would like to thank the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship, which made an award (pf100022) to the first author in 2010, for their generous financial support of the current study. We would also like to thank the Award of Shenzhen University Distinguished Professorship, which provided support in various forms to the first author, in finalizing this study (contract no.: TP026).

References

references

Allen, S., Ozyurek, A., & Kita, S. (2007). Language-specific and universal influences in children’s syntactic packaging of Manner and Path: a comparison of English, Japanese, and Turkish. Cognition, 102(1), 16–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berman, R., & Slobin, D. I. (1994). Relating events in narrative: a crosslinguistic developmental study. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Bowerman, M. (1996). The origins of children’s spatial semantic categories: cognitive versus linguistic determinants. In Gumperz, J., & Levinson, S. (Eds.), Rethinking linguistic relativity (pp. 145–176). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bowerman, M. (1999). Learning how to structure space for language: a crosslinguistic perspective. In Bloom, P. M., & Peterson, L. (Eds.), Language and space (pp. 385–436). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bowerman, M., & Choi, S. (2001). Shaping meanings for language: universal and language-specific in the acquisition of spatial semantic categories. In Bowerman, M., & Levinson, S. (Eds.), Language acquisition and conceptual development (pp. 475–511). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cadierno, T. (2004). Expressing motion events in a second language: a cognitive typological perspective. In Achard, M., & Niemeier, S. (Eds.), Cognitive linguistics, second language acquisition, and foreign language teaching (pp. 13–49). Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cadierno, T. (2008). Learning to talk about motion in a foreign language. In Robinson, P., & Ellis, N. C. (Eds.), Handbook of cognitive linguistics and second language acquisition (pp. 239–275). New York & London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Cadierno, T. (2010). Motion in Danish as a second language: Does the learner’s L1 make a difference? In Han, Z. H., & Cadierno, T. (Eds.), Linguistic relativity in SLA: thinking for speaking (pp. 1–33). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Cadierno, T., & Ruiz, L. (2006). Motion events in Spanish L2 acquisition. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 4, 183–216.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, J., & Ai, R. (2009). Encoding motion and state change in L2 Mandarin. In Xiao, Y. (Ed.), Proceedings of the 21st North American Conference on Chinese Linguistics (NACCL–21) Volume 1 (pp. 149–164). Smithfield, RI: Bryant University.Google Scholar
Chen, L. (2005). The acquisition and use of motion event expressions in Chinese. (Unpublished dissertation) University of Louisiana, Lafayette.Google Scholar
Chen, L., & Guo, J. (2009). Motion events in Chinese novels: evidence for an equivalently-framed language. Journal of Pragmatics, 41, 1749–1766.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engemann, H., Harr, A., & Hickmann, M. (2012). Caused motion events across languages and learner types: a comparison of bilingual first and adult second language acquisition. In Filipovic, L., & Jaszczolt, K. (Eds.), Space and time in languages and cultures: linguistic diversity (pp. 263–288). London: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Gullberg, M. (2008). Gestures and second language acquisition. In Robinson, P., & Ellis, N. (Eds.), Handbook of cognitive linguistics and second language acquisition (pp. 276–305). New York & London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Gullberg, M., & McCafferty, S. G. (2008). Introduction to gesture and SLA: toward an integrated approach. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 30(2), 133–146.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hendriks, H., & Hickmann, M. (2011). Space in second language acquisition. In Cook, V., & Bassetti, B. (Eds.), Language and bilingual cognition (pp. 315–339). Hove: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Hendriks, H., Hickmann, M., & Demagny, A. C. (2008). How English native speakers learn to express caused motion in English and French. Acquisition et Interaction en Langue Étrangère, 27, 15–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickmann, M. (2006). The relativity of motion in first language acquisition. In Hickmann, M., & Robert, S. (Eds.), Space in languages: linguistic systems and cognitive categories (pp. 281–308). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickmann, M., & Hendriks, H. (2010). Typological constraints on the acquisition of spatial language in French and English. Cognitive Linguistics, 21(2), 181–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickmann, M., Hendriks, H., & Champaud, C. (2009). Typological constraints on motion in French and English child language. In Guo, J., Lieven, E., & Budwig, N. (Eds.), Crosslinguistic approaches to the psychology of language: research in the tradition of Dan Isaac Slobin (pp. 209–224). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Hohenstein, J. (2005). Language-related motion event similarities in English- and Spanish-speaking children. Journal of Cognition and Development, 6, 403–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hohenstain, J., Eisenberg, A., & Naigles, L. (2006). Is he floating across or crossing afloat? Cross-influence of L1 and L2 in Spanish–English bilingual adults. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 9, 249–261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hohenstein, J., Naigles, L., & Eisenberg, A. (2004). Keeping verb acquisition in motion: a comparison of English and Spanish. In Hall, G., & Waxman, S. (Eds.), Weaving a lexicon (pp. 569–602). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ji, Y., Hendriks, H., & Hickmann, M. (2010). Motion expressions in Chinese and English: a typological perspective. In Marotta, G., & Lenci, A. (Eds.), Space in language: proceedings of the Pisa international conference (pp. 533–542). Pisa: Edizioni ETS.Google Scholar
Ji, Y., Hendriks, H., & Hickmann, M. (2011a). Children’s expression of voluntary motion events in English and Chinese. Journal of Foreign Languages, 34(4), 2–20.Google Scholar
Ji, Y., Hendriks, H., & Hickmann, M. (2011b). How children express caused motion events in Chinese and English: universal and language-specific influences. Lingua, 121, 1796–1819.Google Scholar
Ji, Y., Hendriks, H., & Hickmann, M. (2011c). The expression of caused motion events in Chinese and in English: some typological issues. Linguistics, 49(5), 1041–1076.Google Scholar
Levinson, S. (2003). Space in language and cognition: explorations in cognitive diversity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Li, C. N., & Thompson, S. A. (1976). The meaning and structure of complex sentences with -zhe in Mandarin Chinese. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 96(4), 512–519.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, C. N., & Thompson, S. A. (1981). Mandarin Chinese: a functional reference grammar. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Lucy, J. (1992). Grammatical categories and cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Luk, Z. (2012). Motion events in Japanese and English. In Filipovic, L., & Jaszczolt, K. (Eds.), Space and time in languages and cultures: linguistic diversity (pp. 205–232). London: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Marotta, G., & Meini, L. (2012). Spatial prepositions in Italian L2: universal and language-specific principles. In Filipovic, L., & Jaszczolt, K. (Eds.), Space and time in languages and cultures: linguistic diversity (pp. 289–324). London: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
McDonald, E. (1995). Completive verb compounds in modern Chinese: a new look at an old problem. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 22, 317–362.Google Scholar
Müller, N. (1998). Transfer in bilingual first language acquisition. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 1, 151–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Naigles, L., & Terrazas, P. (1998). Motion verb generalizations in English and Spanish: influences of language and syntax. Psychological Science, 9, 363–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Navarro, S., & Nicoladis, E. (2005). Describing motion events in adult L2 Spanish narratives. In Eddington, D. (Ed.), Selected proceedings of the 6th conference on the acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as first and second languages (pp. 102–107). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (1996a). From ‘thought to language’ to ‘thinking to speaking’. In Gumperz, J., & Levinson, S. (Eds.), Rethinking linguistic relativity (pp. 70–96). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (1996b). Two ways to travel: verbs of motion in English and Spanish. In Shibatani, M., & Thompson, S. A. (Eds.), Grammatical constructions: their form and meaning (pp. 195–217). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Slobin, D. I. (2004). The many ways to search for a frog: linguistic typology and the expression of motion events. In Strömqvist, S., & Verhoeven, L. (Eds.), Relating events in narrative Vol. 2: typological and contextual perspectives (pp. 219–257). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Talmy, L. (1985). Lexicalization patterns: semantic structure in lexical form. In Shopen, T. (Ed.), Language typology and syntactic description, Vol. 3 (pp. 36–149). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Talmy, L. (2000). Toward a cognitive semantics, Vol. 2: typology and process in concept structuring. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Talmy, L. (2009). Main verb properties and equipollent framing. In Guo, J., Lieven, E., & Budwig, N. (Eds.), Crosslinguistic approaches to the psychology of language: research in the tradition of Dan Isaac Slobin (pp. 389–402). New York: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Vidakovic, I. (2012). ‘He walked up the pole with arms and legs’: typology in second language acquisition. In Filipovic, L., & Jaszczolt, K. (Eds.), Space and time in languages and cultures: linguistic diversity (pp. 233–262). London: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Zeng, Y. H. (2011). Acquisition of English motion event expressions by Chinese EFL learners. (Unpublished dissertation) Hunan Normal University.Google Scholar
Zlatev, J., & Yangklang, P. (2004). A third way to travel: the place of Thai in motion-event typology. In Strömqvist, S., & Verhoeven, L. (Eds.), Relating events in narrative: typological and contextual perspectives (pp. 159–190). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar