Hostname: page-component-669899f699-chc8l Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-05-06T16:22:36.623Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Structural priming facilitates L2 learning of the dative alternation in Mandarin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2024

Yanxin (Alice) Zhu Open the ORCID record for Yanxin (Alice) Zhu [Opens in a new window]  and
Theres Grüter Open the ORCID record for Theres Grüter [Opens in a new window]
Yanxin (Alice) Zhu*
Affiliation:
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
Theres Grüter
Affiliation:
University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
*
Corresponding author: Yanxin (Alice) Zhu; Email: yanxinz@hawaii.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study investigated whether structural priming, as a reflection of error-driven learning mechanisms, could facilitate second language (L2) learning of the dative alternation in Mandarin. We sought evidence of learning from both priming and acceptability judgment data. Participants were 25 native speakers and 41 classroom learners (CLs). After a priming session in which participants predicted and then saw what a virtual partner had written to describe pictures (prime trials, with only acceptable verb-dative pairings), CLs showed increased production of these acceptable pairings and increased acceptability ratings for them. The observation of such longer-term priming effects beyond the priming phase, together with an inverse frequency effect of priming observed among the CLs, aligns well with error-driven learning accounts. However, we did not find evidence for statistical preemption, in that participants did not decrease ratings for unacceptable pairings as a result of exposure to their competing alternatives.

Keywords

dative alternationerror-driven learningMandarinstatistical preemptionstructural priming
Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 46 , Issue 4 , September 2024 , pp. 1094 - 1116
Check for updates
Open Practices
Open data Open materials
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Arai, M., van Gompel, R. P. G., & Scheepers, C. (2007). Priming ditransitive structures in comprehension. Cognitive Psychology, 54(3), 218–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogpsych.2006.07.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernolet, S., & Hartsuiker, R. J. (2010). Does verb bias modulate syntactic priming? Cognition, 114(3), 455–461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2009.11.005CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bock, K. (1986). Syntactic persistence in language production. Cognitive Psychology, 18 ( 3), 355–387. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(86)90004-6CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bock, K. & Griffin, Z. M. (2000). The persistence of structural priming: Transient activation or implicit learning? Journal of Experimental Psychology, General 129 ( 2), 177–192. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.129.2.177CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bovolenta, , & Marsden, E. (2021). Prediction and error-based learning in L2 processing and acquisition: a conceptual review. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 44 ( 5), 1384–1409. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263121000723CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Branigan, H. P., & Messenger, K. (2016). Consistent and cumulative effects of syntactic experience in children’s sentence production: Evidence for error-based implicit learning. Cognition, 157, 250–256. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2016.09.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brooks, P., & Zizak, O. (2002). Does preemption help children learn verb transitivity? Journal of Child Language, 29(4), 759–781. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305000902005287CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, J. M. M., Fanselow, G., Hall, R., & Kliegl, R. (2021). Middle ratings rise regardless of grammatical construction: testing syntactic variability in a new repeated exposure paradigm. PLoS ONE, 16(5), e0251280. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251280CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chan, I. L., & Chang, C. B. (2018). LEXTALE_CH: A quick, character-based proficiency test for Mandarin Chinese. In Bertolini, A. B. & Kaplan, M. J. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 114–130). Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.Google Scholar
Chang, F., Dell, G. S., & Bock, K. (2006). Becoming syntactic. Psychological Review, 113 ( 2), 234–272. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295x.113.2.234CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chang, F., Janciauskas, M., & Fitz, H. (2012). Language adaptation and learning: Getting explicit about implicit learning. Language and Linguistics Compass, 6(5), 259–278. https://doi.org/10.1002/lnc3.337CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, X., Wang, S., & Hartsuiker, R. J. (2022). Error-based structure prediction in language comprehension: Evidence from verb bias effects in a visual-world structural priming paradigm for Mandarin Chinese. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 48(1), 60–71. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001048CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coumel, M., Ushioda, E., & Messenger, K. (2023). Second Language Learning via Syntactic Priming: Investigating the Role of Modality, Attention, and Motivation. Language Learning, 73(1), 231–265. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12522CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Do, M. L., & Kaiser, E. (2017). The relationship between syntactic satiation and syntactic priming: A first look. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 18–51. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01851CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fazekas, J., Jessop, A., Pine, J., & Rowland, C. (2020). Do children learn from their prediction mistakes? A registered report evaluating error-based theories of language acquisition. Royal Society Open Science, 7(11), 180877–180877. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180877CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, A. E. (2006). Constructions at work: the nature of generalization in language. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Goldberg, A. E. (2019). Explain me this: Creativity, competition, and the partial productivity of constructions. Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691183954Google Scholar
Gropen, J., Pinker, S., Hollander, M., Goldberg, R., & Wilson, R. (1989). The learnability and acquisition of the dative alternation in English. Language, 65 ( 2), 203–257. https://doi.org/10.2307/415332CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grüter, T., Zhu, Y. A., & Jackson, C. N. (2021). Forcing prediction increases priming and adaptation in second language production. In Kaan, E. & Grüter, T. (Eds.), Prediction in second language learning and processing (pp. 207–231). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.12.10gruCrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, L. (2013). Yingyu muyuzhe hanyu “NP1+V+gei+NP2+NP3” jiegou xide qingkuang kaocha: Dui jufa-yuyi jiemian jiashuo de shizheng yanjiu (L2 Chinese acquisition of “NP1+V+gei+NP2+NP3”: A case study on the syntax-semantic interface hypothesis). [Unpublished Master’s thesis]. Peking University.Google Scholar
Her, O. (2006). Justifying part-of-speech assignments for Mandarin gei. Lingua, 116(8), 1274–1302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2005.06.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heyselaar, E., & Segaert, K. (2022). Structural priming persists for (at least) one month in young adults, but not in healthy older adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology. Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 48(8), 1219–1234. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001123CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hopp, H. (2021). Prediction and grammatical learning in second language sentence processing. In Kaan, E. & Grüter, T. (Eds.), Prediction in second language learning and processing (pp. 167–186). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.12.08hopCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, C., & Ahrens, K. (1999). The function and category of gei in Mandarin ditransitive constructions. Journal of Chinese Linguistics, 27(2), 1–26.Google Scholar
Huettig, F., & Mani, N. (2016). Is prediction necessary to understand language? Probably not. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 31(1), 19–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2015.1072223CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Inagaki, S. (1997). Japanese and Chinese learners’ acquisition of the narrow‐range rules for the dative alternation in English. Language Learning, 47(4), 637–669. https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.0002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, C. N. (2018). Second language structural priming: A critical review and directions for future research. Second Language Research, 34(4), 539–552. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658317746207CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, C. N., & Hopp, H. (2020). Prediction error and implicit learning in L1 and L2 syntactic priming. The International Journal of Bilingualism : Cross-Disciplinary, Cross-Linguistic Studies of Language Behavior, 24 ( 5-6), 895–911. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006920902851CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, C. N., & Ruf, H.T. (2017). The priming of word order in second language German. Applied Psycholinguistics, 38 ( 2), 315–345. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716416000205CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaeger, T. F., & Snider, N.E. (2013). Alignment as a consequence of expectation adaptation: Syntactic priming is affected by the prime’s prediction error given both prior and recent experience. Cognition, 127 ( 1), 57–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2012.10.013CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kaan, E., & Chun, E. (2018). Priming and adaptation in native speakers and second-language learners. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 21(2), 228–242. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728916001231CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaan, E., & Grüter, T. (2021). Prediction in second language processing and learning. In Kaan, E. & Grüter, T. (Eds.), Prediction in second language learning and processing (pp. 1–24). John Benjamins. https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.12.01kaaCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaschak, M.P., Kutta, T. J., & Jones, J. L. (2011). Structural priming as implicit learning: Cumulative priming effects and individual differences. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 18 ( 6), 1133–1139. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-011-0157-yCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kim, Y., & McDonough, K. (2016). Prime repetition and Korean EFL learners’ comprehension and production of passives. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 54 ( 4), 319–346. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2015-0028CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuznetsova, A., Brockhoff, P. B., Christensen, R. H. B. (2017). lmerTest Package: Tests in linear mixed effects models. Journal of Statistical Software, 82(13), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.18637/jss.v082.i13CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, T. H. J., & Huang, Y. S. (2015). Structures of the Mandarin gei constructions. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 24(3), 309–338. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-015-9132-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, F. (2006). Dative constructions in Chinese. Language and Linguistics, 7(4), 863–904.Google Scholar
Liu, Y., Yao, T., Bi, N., Ge, L. & Shi, Y. (2021). Integrated Chinese (4th ed., Vol.1). Boston, MA: Cheng & Tsui.Google Scholar
McDonough, K. (2006). Interaction and syntactic priming: English L2 speakers’ production of dative constructions. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 28 ( 2), 179–207. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263106060098CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonough, K., & Chaikitmongkol, W. (2010). Collaborative syntactic priming activities and EFL learners’ production of wh-questions. The Canadian Modern Language Review, 66 ( 6), 817–842. https://doi.org/10.3138/cmlr.66.6.817CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perek, F., & Goldberg, A. E. (2017). Linguistic generalization on the basis of function and constraints on the basis of statistical preemption. Cognition, 168, 276–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2017.06.019CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peter, M., Chang, F., Pine, J. M., Blything, R., & Rowland, C. F. (2015). When and how do children develop knowledge of verb argument structure? Evidence from verb bias effects in a structural priming task. Journal of Memory and Language, 81, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2014.12.002CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pickering, M. J., & Gambi, C. (2018). Predicting while comprehending language: A theory and review. Psychological Bulletin, 144(10), 1002–1044. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000158CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pinker, S. (1989). Learnability and cognition: The acquisition of argument structure. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Plonsky, L., Marsden, E., Crowther, D., Gass, S. M., & Spinner, P. (2020). A methodological synthesis and meta-analysis of judgment tasks in second language research. Second Language Research, 36(4), 583–621. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658319828413CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Team, R Core (2022). R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. https://www.R-project.org/.Google Scholar
Schutze, C. T. & Sprouse, J. (2014). Judgment data. Chapter 3 in Podesva, R. J. & Sharma, D. (Eds.). Research Methods in Linguistics. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139013734.004Google Scholar
Snyder, W. (2000). An experimental investigation of syntactic satiation effects. Linguistic Inquiry, 31(3), 575–582. https://doi.org/10.1162/002438900554479CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soh, H. L. (2005). Mandarin distributive quantifier GE ‘each’, the structures of double complement constructions and the verb-preposition distinction. Journal of East Asian Linguistics, 14(2), 155–173. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10831-004-6307-8CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spinner, P., & Gass, S. M. (2019). Using Judgments in Second Language Acquisition Research (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315463377CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sprouse, J. (2009). Revisiting satiation: Evidence for an equalization response strategy. Linguistic Inquiry, 40(2), 329–341. https://doi.org/10.1162/ling.2009.40.2.329CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tachihara, K., & Goldberg, A. (2020). Reduced competition effects and noisier representations in a second language. Language Learning, 70(1), 219–265. https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12375CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, S. (1991). “Dative alternation” in Chinese and English. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. The University of Connecticut.Google Scholar
Ye, S. (2019). Jiyu pinggu he xuanyong yuanze de “Zhongwen Ting Shuo Du Xie” jiaocai pingxi: Jian lun “muyu zhiru” xianxiang (An analysis on Integrated Chinese under Evaluation and Selection Principles: As well as the phenomenon of First Language Implantation). Haiwai huawen jiaoyu (Overseas Chinese Education),4, 46–54.Google Scholar
Zhang, B. (1999). Xiandai hanyu de shuangjiwu jiegoushi (Ditransitive constructions in modern Chinese). Zhongguo Yuwen (Studies of the Chinese Language), 47, 175–184.Google Scholar
Zhu, D. (1979). Yu dongci “gei” xiangguan de jufa wenti (Syntactic issues concerning the verb gei (“give”)). Fangyan (Dialect), 2, 81–87.Google Scholar
Zhu, Y., & Zhao, Y. (2016). Yingyu riyu muyuzhe hanyu shuangbinyu jiegou xide yanjiu (Acquisition of Chinese double object construction by English and Japanese speakers). Guoji Hanyu Jiaoxue Yanjiu (Journal of International Chinese Teaching), 4, 58–67.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Zhu and Grüter supplementary material

Zhu and Grüter supplementary material
Download Zhu and Grüter supplementary material(File)
File 524.6 KB