Discourse effects on the second language acquisition of English and Chinese dative structures

This dissertation investigates how dative construction is structured by adult second language learners of Chinese and English under the influence of discourse effects: echoicity and given-new information order. The former describes a phenomenon that a speaker tends to echo the syntax pattern that s/he heard in previous contexts, and the latter refers to the arrangement of given and new information in terms of word order. Chinese and English native speakers were speculated to follow the echoicity and GN information order principle respectively. Chinese and English experiments were conducted on Chinese native speakers, L1 English Chinese as second language learners, English native speakers, and L1 Chinese English as second language learners to collect their spontaneous responses to GN-order neutral questions (simple wh-questions), GN-order discouraging questions (multiple wh-questions), and GN-order facilitating questions (contextual questions). The results showed deviant responses from expectation, and context was confirmed playing a crucial role in affecting the production of dative constructions.