Interpretation of binding and orientation of the Chinese reflexive ziji by English and Japanese speakers

This article reports on an empirical study of the interpretation of the Chinese reflexive ziji by English and Japanese speakers. In English, reflexives can only take a local (LOC) antecedent, whereas the Chinese reflexive ziji and the Japanese reflexive zibun can have a long-distance (LD) antecedent as well as a local one. Another property of the long-distance reflexives is subject orientation. However, reflexives in English allow both subject NPs and object NPs as their antecedents. The results of the study suggest that L1 transfer occurs in second language acquisition (SLA) of the Chinese reflexive ziji. However, not everything can be explained by L1 interference. It is found that: it is much easier for Japanese speakers than for English speakers to acquire the LD binding of ziji; binding of ziji is asymmetric in finite and nonfinite clauses in English speakers' L2 grammars of Chinese; acquiring subject orientation of ziji is problematic to both English and Japanese speakers, and no implicational relationship is found between LD binding of ziji and subject orientation of ziji; LD binding of ziji entails LOC binding of ziji, and it also generally entails no LD object binding. Implications of these findings are discussed.

[1]  P. Cole,et al.  Antecedents and blockers of long-distance reflexives: the case of chinese Ziji , 1996 .

[2]  Ljiljana Progovac,et al.  Long-distance reflexives: movement-to-infl versus relativized SUBJECT , 1993 .

[3]  Margaret Thomas,et al.  The Interpretation of English Reflexive Pronouns by Non-Native Speakers , 1989, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

[4]  Lydia White,et al.  The Researcher Gave the Subject a Test about Himself: Problems of Ambiguity and Preference in the Investigation of Reflexive Binding , 1997 .

[5]  Ljiljana Progovac,et al.  Relativized Subject: long-distancereflexives without movement , 1992 .

[6]  Margaret Thomas,et al.  Universal Grammar and the interpretation of reflexives in a second language , 1991 .

[7]  E. Battistella,et al.  Chinese reflexivization: a movement to INFL approach , 1989 .

[8]  P. Cole.  Principles and parameters of long-distance reflexives , 1990 .

[9]  C.-T. James Huang,et al.  Long-distance anaphora: The local nature of the long-distance reflexive in Chinese , 1991 .

[10]  K. Wexler,et al.  Verb movement: Finiteness and head movement in early child grammars , 1994 .

[11]  Daniel Finer,et al.  Binding Parameters in Second Language Acquisition , 1991 .

[12]  Makiko Hirakawa,et al.  A study of the L2 acquisition of English reflexives , 1990 .

[13]  Margaret Thomas,et al.  Acquisition of the Japanese reflexive zibun and movement of anaphors in Logical Form , 1995 .

[14]  Lydia White,et al.  Effects of Instruction on Second Language Acquisition of the Japanese Long-Distance Reflexive Zibun , 1996, Canadian Journal of Linguistics/Revue canadienne de linguistique.