A Study On Foreign Students’Acquisition Of Chinese "Shenme"Rhetorical Question

In Contemporary Chinese, Rhetorical question (RQ) is a question sentence used for negation.The Chinese interrogative pronoun "Shenme" can not only ask questions, but also be used in the rhetorical question as a negative mark. The similarity in the structure between Chinese "Shenme"RQ and "Shenme" question makes the Chinese study difficult for the overseas students.Hence,it is really necessary for Chinese teachers to understand the characteristics of the "Shenme"RQ,find out the problems that the overseas students have in studying the "Shenme"RQ and make clear the causes.This thesis consists of five chapters:Chapter1:This part mainly introduces the origin of this topic,the study range and gives a general overview of this subject,including the previous reseach on RQ and "Shenme"RQ in China.Besides,we explains the reseach methods of this thcsis,which are qualitative analysis,quantative analysis,contrastive interlanguage analysis and error analysis.Chapter2:This chapter,based on many previous studies, has studied746"Shenme "RQs in the Chinese maderian corpus and has distinguished "Shenme" RQs and "Shenme" questions from three aspects:phonetics;semantics and syntax.Besides,in order to give a better definition to "Shenme"RQ,we have also compare "Shenme" RQ with the "Shenme" sentence, in which "Shenme" is used for reminding.Hence,we can come to a conclusion that "Shenme"RQ is a question sentence in which "Shenme" severves an a negative mark. According to this definition, we classify "Shenme" RQ into thrree structure types:frame types,stationary types and special types.On functions, we find out seven other derivative functions,i.e.to oppose,to suggest,to complain,to express surprise,to interjectionalize,to express modesty and to emphasize.Chapter3:Based on the characteristics of RQ structures,semantics,functions and so on,the questionnaire we made includes four parts:basic imformation, identifiying, understanding and applying.We have investigated80overseas students from each grade studying in the CCNU during the year2012-2013,and we have got back49available questionnaires in the end.According to the questionnaires data,we have made4conclusons:First,"Shenme"RQ is generally difficult to foreign students.Second,most students are best in identifying and understanding,and worst in applying,in which many students answer the questions without using the given "Shenme" RQ stuctures. Third, studuents from high level do the best,and primary the worst.Fourth,different identification conditions,structures and functions of "Shenme"RQ are different in complexity and acquisition order for foreign students in different levels.Besides, the study results can be directly influenced by the internal and external causes,the internal causes,i.e. mother tongue transfer,overgenerliazaton of target language rules,the length of study time and the avoidance strategy; the external causes include two parts:teaching and the language environment influence.Chapter4:In the light of problems exist in studying, textbooks and teaching which we have found,we will propose various suggestions and solutions to each problems respectively and design a complete teaching plan with various methods.Chapter5:The last part will point out the merits and demerits of this thesis so as to offer some advice and references to the Chinese teaching.