ON THE STRUCTURE AND ACQUISITION OF TELICITY AND UNACCUSATIVITY IN VIETNAMESE

Trang Phan, Nigel Duffield / VNU University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Konan University

In this paper, we investigate Chinese L2 learners’ knowledge of two grammatical constraints in Vietnamese: the first, a constraint on the aspectual interpretation of accomplishment predicates, the second pertaining to alternations in the position of embedded subjects in mono-clausal làm causatives. Whereas the former constraint is shared by Vietnamese and Chinese, the two languages differ with respect to the latter. The results of three judgment tasks provide statistically reliable support for the idea that L2 interlanguage grammars are not ultimately limited by L1 patterns; given the absence of explicit teaching and only limited exposure to relevant structures, it is suggested that learners’ performance may be guided by UG information.

越南語完整性和非賓格結構習得

本研究針對母語為中文的人士，如何建構第二語言－越南語中兩項文法結構進行深入研究：第一，漸成謂語之動貌語義的限制；第二，使役動詞 lam (作/do)在單句句型中，崁入式主詞位置交替現象，前項限制存在於兩種語言中；後者則否。受測者未接受上述文法的明確教導，並且對相關結構的接觸有限，在此情況下進行三份文法判斷實驗。分析資料得出統計上可靠的數據，顯示第二語言中介語言架構終究不受第一語言模式的限制。我們認為：學習者的表現可能是以普遍語法為指導的結果。