A corpus-based study of a Chinese-speaking child’s acquisition of English transferred negation

Abstract

Native speakers of English have a strong preference for transferred negation as opposed to non-transferred negation. The present study aims to examine whether young Chinese-speaking ESL learners have a target-like preference for transferred negation and whether they have a system-wide representation of transferred negation in their early English development. Based on the corpora compiled with longitudinal data of a Chinese-speaking child learning English as a second language, the present study analyzed the child’s collocation of matrix verbs with transferred negation and non-transferred negation, the distribution of matrix verbs in transferred negation, and the distribution of negation types in terms of different matrix verbs. The findings show that the verb THINK predominates the matrix verbs of the child’s transferred negation. The imbalanced distribution of matrix verbs in his transferred negation is related to the skewed input of verbs. In sentences with the matrix verb THINK, the child has a target-like preference for transferred negation as opposed to non-transferred negation. However, he does not show a target-like preference for transferred negation in sentences with the matrix verb LOOK LIKE. Hence, we argue that young ESL learners’ generalizations about constructions are focused around particular verbs that occur frequently in those constructions. Young ESL learners do not have an abstract system-wide representation at the earliest stage of second language acquisition. Instead, their ESL acquisition is based on specific verbs.