L2 acquisition of the bei passive in Mandarin Chinese: A constructionist approach

Abstract A major claim in the constructionist approach to language acquisition is that grammar is learned by pairings of form and function. In this study we test this claim by examining how L2 learners of Mandarin Chinese acquire the bei passive construction, a construction that is associated with the meaning of adversity. Our goal is to find out whether L2 learners make the association between the passive and adversity. Participants performed a sentence choice task under four conditions: an adversative context with an adversative verb, an adversative context with a neutral verb, a neutral context with a neutral verb and a positive context with a neutral verb. In each context participants were asked to select either the bei passive construction or its active counterpart. We found that high-level learners consistently chose the bei passive significantly more in adversative contexts than in non-adversative contexts regardless of the connotations of the verbs, while low-level learners made the distinction half of the time. In addition, while low-level learners did not yet associate adversity with the form of the construction, high-level learners did. We conclude that L2 learners do learn the bei passive construction as a form-meaning pair. The constructionist approach is supported. 摘要 构式语法理论认为, 语法的形式与意义是一同习得的。在此理论基础上, 本研究考察了汉语二语学习者“被”字构式的习得情况。“被”字构式常带有不幸、消极的意义, 那么学习者能否习得这种形式-意义的配对体呢?为了解决这一问题, 我们设计并安排了句子选择的任务。被试需在四种情况下根据情境选择 “被” 字句或其相应的主动语态。这四种情况分别为: 消极意义语境匹配消极意义动词, 消极意义语境匹配中性意义动词, 中性意义语境匹配中性意义动词, 以及积极意义语境匹配中性意义动词。我们发现无论动词属何种语义, 高水平学习者在消极语境中的 “被” 字句使用均显著高于非消极语境; 低水平学习者在一半的情况下也更多地使用了“被”字句。与高水平学习者相比, 低水平学习者尚未将 “被”字句的消极意义与其形式联系起来。基于以上, 我们认为二语学习者在学习汉语“被”字句是以形式和意义的配对体习得的。该研究证实了构式语法的习得理论。