中国英语学习者口语中thatzero标补词变异研究拉波夫的语言变异观A study of the variation of thatzero complement words in Chinese English learners spoken language Labovs view of language variation.pdf

Chapter One Introduction 1.1 Introduction A corpus-based study of the distribution of that and zero complementizer is anything but new. Many scholars have made great efforts to reveal the contributing factors of that/zero variation for the purpose of seeking underlying reasons for the variation models. But most studies so far have been based on native speakers ‘ language, and mostly written English. Very few have been done on that/zero variation in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) interlanguage, especially spoken language. What are the constraints of that/zero complementizer variation in EFL learners ‘ spoken language? Does the same hierarchy of constraints apply to both native speakers and second language speakers? Accordingly, the present research tries to find answer to these questions. 1.2 Research Objectives This research is a quasi-longitudinal one conducted to study that/zero complementizer variation in Chinese EFL learners spoken language. The objectives of the study are three-fold. First, we make the investigation to see if that/zero complementizer variation is systemic, so as to provide evidence to the systematicity of interlanguage grammar. In the process of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), learners develop a separate linguistic system which is structurally approximating the target language (TL) and still preserving features of their source language (SL), which is referred to as ―interlanguage‖ (Selinker, 1972). Similar to natural languages, the grammar of interlanguage is characterized by a rule-governed system (Adamson, 1988; Preston, 1989, 1996) that is inherently variable. And thus, the present research contributes to