英语花园路径句理解.doc

英语花园路径句理解语文学刊?外语教育教学2011年第10期ComprehensionofEnglishGardenPathSentencesoChengXiuping(ForeignLanguagesDepartment,ChizhouCollege,Chizhou,Anhui,247000)AbstractStudiesoncomprehensionoffirstlanguageandsecondlanguagegardenpathsentencesarereviewed,andthepotentialityoffurtherstudyo1itheinteractionofL2proficiencyandL2gardenpathcomprehension,especially,itsfinalrepresentation/Ireindicated.Keywordsgardenpathsentencecomprehension,firstlanguage,secondlanguage中图分类号H319文献标识码A文章编号1672-8610(2011)10-0132-03I.IntroductionComprehensionofgardenpathsentence(1ikeWh/ethemanhuntedthedeerran,intothewoods)haslongbeenstudiedbylin-guisticsandpsyeholingnisticsduetoitsspecialqualityoflocalambiguity.TheconceptofGardenpath(GP)isserfdescriptiveasoneisledupthegardenpathbythestructureofthesentenceandhencedeultyariseswhenthefirstsyntacticparsingdoesnotfittherestofthesentence.FirstLanguageGPstudies2.1Whe出ernonsyntacticfactorsaffectsyntacticinltialprocessStudiesonfirstlanguage(L1)ambiguoussentenceprocess-ingaremostconcernedwithwhethertheinitialsyntacticprocessisaffectedbynonsyntacticfactorslikeverbbias,plausibility,lexicalinformation,andcontext.FerreiraandHenderson(1990)usedthedirectobject/sen?tenceeomplementambiguityinaneyetrackingstudyandtwoselfpacedreadingstudies.Asetofexperimentsentencesaletakenhereasexamples:a.Shesuspected(that)Jackownscreditcards.b.Shepretended(that)Jackownscreditcards.ThequestiontheyaddressedwaswhetherreaderswouldinitiallytreatJackasanounphrase(NP)complement,regardlessofverbtype.Ifso,readingtimesatthedisambiguatingverbownsshouldbelongerinthesentenceswithoutcomplemcntizers.Thiswas,infact,theresultthatFerreiraandHendersonobservedintheeye-trackingstudyandinaselfpacedreadingstudywithaonewordmovingwindow.Asecondselfpacedreadingstudywithanaccumulatingdisplaydidnotproducerelia-bleresults.Readingtimeswerelongerforsentenceswithoutcomplementizers,evenwithsentencecomplementbiasedverbs.Thatstosay,initially,thesubjectstreatJackasthenounphrase,regardlessofverbtypes.Nosubcategoraizationeffectwasfound.Garnseyeta1.(1997)studyalsoprovedaverbbiaseffect.TheresultsoftheirexperimentsgenerallyreplieatedTrue-swell,Tanenhaus,andKellos(1993)findingthatverbbiashasrapideffectsonambiguityresolution,andshowedinadditionthatverbbiasandplausibilityinteractduringcomprehension.Rayner,Carlson,andFraizer(1983)examinedwhethertheplausibilityofrealworldeventsinfluencedtheimmediateparsingofsentences.Theymeasuredeyefixationsonsegmentsofthesesentences(a.Thefloristsenttheflowerswasverypleased.b.Theperformersenttheflowerswasverypleased.)andfoundthatinitialanalysesofthesentenceswereunrelatedtotheplausibilityvariable.Cleargardenpatheffectswerefoundwithbothplausibleandimplausiblesentences.InFerreiraandClifton(1986)study,subjectswerepresentedwithcontext(whetherthesententialsemanticsaffecttheinitialparse,thatbiasesthecoctparsealongwiththegardenpathsentenceforthemtoreadandtllelookingtimesweremeasuredforthedisambiguatingregion.Wecantakethefollowingsentenceasanexample.E.g.Theeditorplayedthetapeagreeditwasabigstory.Whenthecontextaccompaniedthissentencemadeitclearthatinthekeysentence,thephraseplayedthetapeisareducedrelativeclause,andtheeditorisnotthesubjectofplayed,theexperimentresultsstillshowedlongerlookingtimesatthewordagreed.Thestrongcontextualeffectsaleineffective.ThusFerreiraandCliftonconcludedfhatcontextdidnotturnofftheMinimalAttachmentstrategy.Theresultsareneverfixedandthequestionwhichmodelofparsingreflectsthehumanprocessingmechanismcannotbeeasilyconcluded,however,nowadays,itscommonlyagreedthatmanynonsyntacticplayaroleinsyntacticprocessing.ThosestudiesconstraintthemselvesalimitedtypesofGPsentences,forexample,almostallstudiesonverbbiasusedthedirectobjectvs.sententialcomplementambiguitysentenceswhilemainverb基金项目池州学院2009年引进研究生科研启动项目(2009RC019).作者简介程秀苹,女,安徽桐城人,安徽省池州学院外语系讲师,硕士研究生,研究方向:二语习得,心理语言学.一l32TEACHINGRESEARCHChengXiuping/ComprehensionofEnglishGardenPathSentencesvs.relativeclauseambiguoussentencesarethemostoftenstudiedinexperimentsonplausibilityeffectinsentenceparsing.2.2n1efinalrepresentationofGPcomprehensionAlthoughinitialparsinghasalwaysaheatconceITlofthestudiesonGPprocessing,theresagrowinginterestinthereanalysisprocessandtheultimaterepresentationofit.Traditionalassumptionsholdthatgardenpathsentencescallbehandledoneoftwoways:First,misparseisrecognizedandrevisionisundertaken;ifnotsuccessful,processorgivesupandinterpretationisnotachieved.Second,Ambiguity/misparseisntnoticedatall,andpersonjustkeepsreading.Ferreirapro-posedthequestionwhathappenstothatoriginal,incorrectinter-pretationderivedfromtheinitial,partial,andultimatelyincor-rectparse.Ferreiraeta1.(2001)summarizedtllreeexperimentsdesignedtoinvestigatethereanalysisandinterpretationofrelativelydifficultgardenpathsentences.Subjectswereaskedtoreadgardenpathsentencesorcorrespondingcontrolsentences,answeracomprehensiveYes/Noquestionforeachoneandindi?catetheirconfidenceinthatanswer.111efirstexperimentwasde-signedtoinvestigatethefundamentalquestionwhetherpeopleendupwithanappropriateunderstandingofgardenpathsen?-tences.nlestimuliaregivenin(1).(1a)wIIileBillhuntedthedeer(thatwasbrownandgracefu1)ranintothewoods.(1b)whileBillhuntedthedeer(thatwasbrownandgracefu1)pacedinthezoo.(1c)WhileBillhuntedthepheasantthedeer(thatwasbrownandgracefu1)ranintothewoods.enextexperimentwasdesignedtoexploretheeffectfurtherbyintroducingtwoin-novations.Nongardenpathconditionsbysimplyreversingtheorderofthesubordinateandmainclauseswereused.Be.sides,notonlydidtheyaskwhetherthemanhuntedthedeer,theyalsoaskedwhetherthedeerranintothewoods.Inthethirdexperiment,theyusedaclassofverbssometimescalledReflex?iveAbsoluteTransitive(RAT)verbslikedressandbathe.Itsfoundthatafterreadingsuchsentences,participantscorrecdybelievedthatthebabyspituponthebed;however,theyoftenconfidenfly,yetincorrectly,believedthatAnnadressedthebaby.Theseresultsdemonstratethatgardenpathreanalysisisnotanallor?nothingprocessandthatthematicrolesinitiallyassignedforthesubordinateclauseverbarenotconsistentlyrevised.II1.SecondLanguageGPSentenceProcessingInthesecondlanguage(12)acquisitionfield,alotofworkhasbeendoneonlinguisticknowledgeinlanguagelearners.Bycontrast.themechanismsusedbylearnerstoprocessI2inputinrealtimealenotyetfullyunderstood.However,someresearchershaverecentlybeguntouseonlineexperimentaltechniques,suchascrossmodalpriming,eyetrackingorselfpacedreading/listeningtasks,toinvestigate12parsing.StudiesonL2ambiguityresolutionaremainlyfocusedonthefollowingquestions:1.Are1_2learnersabletoacquiretheparsingmechanismsemployedbynativespeakers?2.HowdoparsingmechanismsemergeinL2learners?3.D0L2learnerstransferparsingmechanismsfromtheirfirstlanguagetotheforeignlanguage?JuffsandHarrington(1996)conductedanonlinegrammatiealityjudgmenttaskonsentenceslike(1)一(4)belowwithveryadvancedChineselearnersandnativespeakersofEnglish:(1)GardenPathsentencesoptionallytransitiveverbsAfterBilldrankthewaterprovedtobepoisoned.(2)NonGardenPathsentencespurelyintransitiveverbsAfterSamarrivedtheguestsbegantoeatanddrink.(3)GardenPathsentencesVerbssubcategorisingfortwoargumentsSamwarnedthestudentcheatedontheexaxn.(4)NonGardenPathsentencesVerbssubeategorisingforoneargumentJaneknewhermotherhatedTom.Thesentenceswerepresentedword.by.wordviathemov.ingwindowtechnique,JuffsandHarringtonfoundthatgardenpathsentenceslike(2)and(4)weremorelikelytoherejectedthanthenongardenpathonesnotonlybytheL2learnersbutalsobythenativespeakers.Inaddition,bothgroupsweregardenpathedwhentheyencounteredtheverbsprovedandcheatedin(2)and(4)respectively.However,differencesbetweenthetwogroupswereobtainedinsentencessuchas(3)and(5).Morespecifically,theL2learnerswerelessaccurateonthesesentencesandtheyalsosloweddownlongerthanthenativespeakerswheneneounteringtheDPstheguestsandhermotherandtheverbsbeganandhated.Juffs(1998a)conductedanonlinegrammatiealityjudgmcnttaskonthemainclausevs.reducedrelativeclauseambiguitywithadvancedlearnersofEnglish.TheresultshowedthattheRomancespeakerswerebetteroverallthantheChineseandtheJapanese/Koreanspeakers,anddidnotsignificantlydifferfromthenatives,whichsuggeststhatL1grammaticalpropertiescanaffectperformanceinasecondlanguage.Moreover,the12learners,andespeciallytheJapanese/Koreangroup,weremorelikelytobemisledintheirjudgmentsbythepresenceofbadcueadverbialsthatfollowedanambiguousverbformthanwerethenativespeakers.1V.ImplicationsandSuggestionsTheresultsofthestudiesreviewedonL2ambiguityresolutionareinformativeabouttheprocessingmechanismsusedinasecondlanguagebutstillfarfromdefinite.Hence,thestudiesconductedontheareaofL2sentenceprocessinghavenotyetprovidedanyclearanswerstothequestionsraisedattheoutset.ThefindingsobtainedthusfarindicatethatL2learnersemploydifferentparsingstrategiesfromnativespeakers.Furthermore,developmentalaspectsofL2processinghavenotyetbeeninvestigatedindepth.WithrespecttothequestionofL1strategytransfer,theevidenceavailableisratherinconclusive.Namely.somestudiesshowedthattheL1parsingstrategiesaretransferredintothetargetlanguage,whereastheresultsofotherstudiesprovidednoevidenceofsuchtransfereffects.Alsonoticethatnotallstudiesusedindependentmethodst0testwhetherthedi珏icuhiessubjectsexperiencewhenpmcessingI2inputstemflr0mtheincompIeteacquisition0ftherelevantarIlmaticalc0n们ctions.Sol33语文学刊?外语教育教学2011年第10期thisfieldneedstobecultivatedwithmorestudies.Itsnotablethatalmostallstudieson12ambiguoussentenceprocessingtooktheadvancedorsocallednativelikesecondlanguagelearnersastheirsubject.SincetheaimoftheirstudyistheparsingmechanismofL2sentence.suchconstraintscanmakesurethatthepossibledivergentparsingstrategiesbetweennativespeakersandI2learnersarenotduetotheL2learnersincompleteacquisitionof12.Consequently,therelackthestudiesonindividualdifferencelikeproficiencyand12anlbiguousresolution.AsfortheresearchesonChineseEFLlearnerscomprehension,gardenpath,akindoflocalambiguity,isflscarcelyexploredareaformostChinesescholars,letalonetherelationofEnshproficiencyofChineselearnersandEnglishgardenpathcomprehension.Arethereanydifferencesinthepar-singofEnshGPsentencesofChineselearnerswithdifferentEnglishproficiencylevels?AnotherissueisthenotsomuchstudiedideaofparalreanalysisputforwardbyFerreiraeta1.(2001).SofaronlytheL1objectnoullphrasevs.mainclausesubjectambiguoussen-tencesarestudied,thenhowaboutothertypesofGPsentenceslikecomplementclausevs.relativeclauseambiguityandhowflbout12GPprocessing?Alltheseareworthfurtherstudying.【Referencesl1Ferreira,F.,Henderson,J.M.1990.Useofverbinfor-mationinsyntacticparsing:EvidencefromeyemovementsandwordbywordselfpacedreadingJ.JournalofExperimentalPsychology:Learning,MemoryandCoguition,16(4):725745.2Ferreira,F.,Chrisfianson,Kie1.,Hollingworth,A.2001.MisinterpretationofGPsentencesImplicationformodelsofsentenceprocessingandreanalysisJ.JournalofPsycholinguistieResearch,30:320.3Frazier,L.,Rayner,K.1982.Makingandcorrectingerorsduringsentencecomprehension:EyemovementsintheanalysisofstructurallyambiguoussentencesJ.CognitivePsychology,14:178210.4Garnsey,S,M.,Pearlmutter,N.J.,Myers,E.,Lotocky,M.A.1997.ThecontributionsofverbbiasandplausibilitytothecomprehensionoftemporarilyambiguoussentencesJ.JournalofMemoryandLanguage,37:5893.5Juffs,A.,