Abstract
This study investigates the developmental trajectory of L2 English progressive construction with a focus on frequency, verb-construction contingency and semantic prototypicality. Comparisons were made on the use of the progressive construction in argumentative essays written by Chinese learners at three different proficiency levels and English native speakers. Data of frequency and verb type distribution indicate that L2 learners’ progressive repertoire showed an increase in productivity and variability and a spread from a fixed type to a wider range of verbs. Contingency data demonstrate that, when associating verbs with the progressive, learners’ preference shifted from prototypical progressive verbs which denote specific and dynamic meanings to more marginal members represented by generic verbs. In addition, semantic prototypicality overweighs generality in driving the development of the progressive, which presents an interesting contrast with findings in the verb-argument construction learning literature where semantically general verbs were first predominantly used in the construction.
Funding source: Chinese Funding of Social Science
Award Identifier / Grant number: 18XYY012
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Prof. Nick Ellis, Dr. Ludivine Crible and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive suggestions on earlier versions of this paper. Our thanks also go to Prof. Ute Römer for her kind help with the statistical analyses.
-
Funding: This work was funded by Chinese Funding of Social Science (18XYY012).
References
Andersen, Roger W. 1991. Developmental sequences: The emergence of aspect marking in second language acquisition. In Thom Huebner & Charles A. Ferguson (eds.), Crosscurrents in second language acquisition and linguistic theories. 305–324. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/lald.2.17andSearch in Google Scholar
Andersen, Roger W. & Yasuhiro Shirai. 1994. Discourse motivations for some cognitive acquisition principles. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 16(2). 133–156. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0272263100012845.Search in Google Scholar
Anthony, Laurence. 2014. AntConc (Version 3.4.3) [Computer Software]. Tokyo: Waseda University. Available at: https://www.laurenceanthony.net/software/antconc/.Search in Google Scholar
Bardovi-Harlig, Kathleen. 2000. Tense and aspect in second language acquisition: Form, meaning, and use. Language Learning: A Journal of Research in Language Studies 50(1 Suppl). Xi–491. https://doi.org/10.1111/0023-8333.50.s1.4.Search in Google Scholar
Bhat, D. N. S. 1999. The prominence of tense, aspect and mood. Amsterdam: Benjamins.10.1075/slcs.49Search in Google Scholar
Bland, Susan K. 1988. The present progressive in discourse: Grammar versus usage revisited. Tesol Quarterly 22(1). 53–68. https://doi.org/10.2307/3587061.Search in Google Scholar
Brown, Roger. 1973. A first language: The early stages. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.10.4159/harvard.9780674732469Search in Google Scholar
Bybee, Joan L. & Östen Dahl. 1989. The creation of tense and aspect systems in the languages of the world. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/sl.13.1.03bybSearch in Google Scholar
Campbell, Aimee L. & Michael Tomasello. 2001. The acquisition of English dative constructions. Applied Psycholinguistics 22(2). 253–267. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0142716401002065.Search in Google Scholar
Chao, Y. R. 1968. A grammar of spoken Chinese. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Search in Google Scholar
Comrie, Bernard. 1976. Aspect: An introduction to the study of verbal aspect and related problems, vol. II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Deshors, Sandra C. & Paula Rautionaho. 2018. The progressive versus non-progressive alternation: A semantic exploration across world Englishes. English World-Wide 39(3). 309–337. https://doi.org/10.1075/eww.00016.des.Search in Google Scholar
Dose-Heidelmayer, Stefanie & Sandra Götz. 2016. The progressive in spoken learner language: A corpus-based analysis of use and misuse. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 54(3). 229–256 https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2016-9982.Search in Google Scholar
Ellis, Nick C. & Fernando Ferreira-Junior. 2009. Construction learning as a function of frequency, frequency distribution, and function. The Modern Language Journal 93(3). 370–385. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00896.x.Search in Google Scholar
Ellis, Nick C., Matthew B. O’Donnell & Ute Römer. 2013. Usage-based language: Investigating the latent structures that underpin acquisition. Language Learning 63. 25–51. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2012.00736.x.Search in Google Scholar
Ellis, Nick C., Matthew B. O’Donnell & Ute Römer. 2014. Second language verb-argument constructions are sensitive to form, function, frequency, contingency, and prototypicality. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism 4(4). 405–431. https://doi.org/10.1075/lab.4.4.01ell.Search in Google Scholar
Ellis, Nick C., Ute Römer & Matthew B. O’Donnell. 2016. Usage-based approaches to language acquisition and processing: Cognitive and corpus investigations of construction grammar. Language Learning 66(S1). 23–44.10.1111/lang.1_12177Search in Google Scholar
Eskildsen, Søren W., Teresa Cadierno & Peiwen Li. 2015. On the development of motion constructions in four learners of L2 English. In Teresa Cadierno & Søren W. Eskildsen (eds.), Usage-based perspectives on second language learning, 207–232. Berlin & New York: Mouton De Gruyter.10.1515/9783110378528-011Search in Google Scholar
Gilquin, Gaëtanelle. 2019. Light verb constructions in spoken L2 English: An exploratory cross-sectional study. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research 5(2). 181–206. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijlcr.18003.gil.Search in Google Scholar
Goldberg, Adele E. 2003. Constructions: a new theoretical approach to language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 7(5). 219–224. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1364-6613(03)00080-9.Search in Google Scholar
Goldberg, Adele E. 2006. Constructions at work: the nature of generalization in language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199268511.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Goldberg, Adele E., Devin M. Casenhiser & Nitya Sethuraman. 2004. Learning argument structure generalizations. Cognitive Linguistics 15(3). 289–316. https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2004.011.Search in Google Scholar
Granger, Sylviane. 1996. From CA to CIA and back: An integrated approach to computerized bilingual and learner corpora. In Karin Aijmer, Bengt Altenberg & M. Johansson (eds.), Languages in contrast. Text-based cross-linguistic studies, 37–51. Lund: Lund University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Gries, Stefan Th. & Nick C. Ellis. 2015. Statistical measures for usage-based linguistics: Statistical measures for usage-based linguistics. Language Learning 65(S1). 228–255, https://doi.org/10.1111/lang.12119.Search in Google Scholar
Gries, Stefan Th., Beate Hampe & Doris Schönefeld. 2005. Converging evidence: Bringing together experimental and corpus data on the association of verbs and constructions. Cognitive Linguistics 16(4). 635–676. https://doi.org/10.1515/cogl.2005.16.4.635.Search in Google Scholar
Gries, Stefan Th., Beate Hampe & Doris Schönefeld. 2010. Converging evidence II: More on the association of verbs and constructions. In Sally Rice & John Newman (eds.), Empirical and experimental methods in cognitive/functional research, 59–72. Stanford, CA: CSLI.Search in Google Scholar
Gui, Shichun & Huizhong Yang. 2002. Chinese learner English corpus. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.Search in Google Scholar
Housen, Alex. 2002. The development of tense-aspect in English as a second language and the variable influence of inherent aspect. In Rafael Salaberry & Yasuhiro Shirai (eds.), The L2 acquisition of tense-aspect morphology, 155–197. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.10.1075/lald.27.09houSearch in Google Scholar
Lee, Seung-Ah. 2007. Ing forms and the progressive puzzle: a construction-based approach to English progressives. Journal of Linguistics. 153–195. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022226706004476.Search in Google Scholar
Leech, Geoffrey, Marianne Hundt, Christian Mair & Nicholas Smith. 2009. Change in contemporary English: A grammatical study. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511642210Search in Google Scholar
Li, Charles & Sandra Thompson. 1981. A functional reference grammar of Mandarin Chinese. Chicago, IL: University of California Press.Search in Google Scholar
Li, Peiwen, Søren W. Eskildsen & Teresa Cadierno. 2014. Tracing an L2 learner’s motion constructions over time: A usage-based classroom investigation. The Modern Language Journal 98(2). 612–628. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12091.Search in Google Scholar
Li, Ping & Yasuhiro Shirai. 2000. The acquisition of lexical and grammatical aspect. Berlin & New York: Mouton de Gruyter.10.1515/9783110800715Search in Google Scholar
Mueller, Charles M. 2018. Initial acquisition of tense-aspect morphology in an artificial language. Second Language Research 34(4). 517–538. https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658317750219.Search in Google Scholar
Ninio, Anat. 1999. Pathbreaking verbs in syntactic development and the question of prototypical transitivity. Journal of Child Language 26(3). 619–653. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0305000999003931.Search in Google Scholar
O’Donnell, Matthew B., Ute, Römer & Nick C, Ellis. 1988. The development of formulaic sequences in first and second language writing: Investigating effects of frequency, association, and native norm. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 18(1). 83–108.Search in Google Scholar
Palmer, F. R. 1988. The English verb, 2nd ed. London: Longman.Search in Google Scholar
Quirk, Randolph, Sidney Greenbaum & Geoffrey Leech. 1985. A comprehensive grammar of the English language. London and New York: Longman.Search in Google Scholar
R Development Core Team. 2012. R: A language and environment for statistical computing. Vienna: R Foundation for Statistical Computing.Search in Google Scholar
Rautionaho, Paula & Sandra C. Deshors. 2018. Progressive or not progressive?: Modeling the constructional choices of EFL and ESL writers. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research 4(2). 225–252. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijlcr.16019.rau.Search in Google Scholar
Rautionaho, Paula, Sandra C. Deshors & Lea Meriläinen. 2018. Revisiting the ENL-ESL-EFL continuum: A multifactorial approach to grammatical aspect in spoken Englishes. ICAME Journal 42(1). 41–78. https://doi.org/10.1515/icame-2018-0004.Search in Google Scholar
Rautionaho, Paula & Robert Fuchs. 2020. Recent change in stative progressives: A collostructional investigation of British English in 1994 and 2014. English Language & Linguistics 1–26. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1017/S136067431900042X.Search in Google Scholar
Römer, Ute. 2005a. Progressives, patterns, pedagogy: A corpus-driven approach to English progressive forms, functions, contexts and didactics, vol. 18. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing.10.1075/scl.18Search in Google Scholar
Römer, Ute. 2005b. Shifting foci in language description and instruction: Towards a lexical grammar of progressives. AAA: Arbeiten aus Anglistik und Amerikanistik 30(1). 127–142.Search in Google Scholar
Römer, Ute. 2019. A corpus perspective on the development of verb constructions in second language learners. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 24(3). 268–290. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.00013.roe.Search in Google Scholar
Römer, Ute & James R. Garner. 2019. The development of verb constructions in spoken learner English: Tracing effects of usage and proficiency. International Journal of Learner Corpus Research 5(2). 207–230. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijlcr.17015.rom.Search in Google Scholar
Römer, Ute, Matthew B. O’Donnell & Nick C. Ellis. 2014. Second language learner knowledge of verb-argument constructions: Effects of language transfer and typology. The Modern Language Journal 98(4). 952–975, https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12149.Search in Google Scholar
Römer, Ute, Stephen C. Skalicky & Nick C. Ellis. 2018. Verb-argument constructions in advanced L2 English learner production: Insights from corpora and verbal fluency tasks. Corpus Linguistics and Linguistic Theory. https://doi.org/10.1515/cllt-2016-0055.Search in Google Scholar
Shirai, Yasuhiro. 1991. Primacy of aspect in language acquisition: Simplified input and prototype. Los Angeles, CA: University of California, Los Angeles dissertation.Search in Google Scholar
Shirai, Yasuhiro & Roger W. Andersen. 1995. The acquisition of tense-aspect morphology: A prototype account. Language. 743–762. https://doi.org/10.2307/415743.Search in Google Scholar
Smith, Carlota S. 1983. A theory of aspectual choice. Language 59(3). 479–501. https://doi.org/10.2307/413899.Search in Google Scholar
Stefanowitsch, Anatol & Stefan Th. Gries. 2003. Collostructions: Investigating the interaction of words and constructions. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics 8(2). 209–243. https://doi.org/10.1075/ijcl.8.2.03ste.Search in Google Scholar
Vendler, Zeno. 1967. Linguistics in philosophy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.10.7591/9781501743726Search in Google Scholar
Williams, Christopher. 2002. Non-progressive and progressive aspect in English. Fasano, Italy: Schena Editore.Search in Google Scholar
Wu, Heping. 2006. The acquisition of English progressive aspect by Chinese-speaking L2 learners: Towards an OT account. Guangdong: Guangdong University of Foreign Studies dissertation.Search in Google Scholar
Wulff, Stefanie & Nick C. Ellis. 2018. Usage-based approaches to second language acquisition. In D. Miller, F. Bayram, J. Rothman & L. Serratrice (eds.), Bilingual cognition and language: The state of the science across its subfields, 37–56. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/sibil.54.03wulSearch in Google Scholar
Wulff, Stefanie, Nick C. Ellis, Ute Römer, Kathleen Bardovi-harlig & Chelsea J. Leblanc. 2009. The acquisition of tense-aspect: Converging evidence from corpora and telicity ratings. The Modern Language Journal 93(3). 354–369. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2009.00895.x.Search in Google Scholar
Wulff, Stefanie & Ute Römer. 2009. Becoming a proficient academic writer: Shifting lexical preferences in the use of the progressive. Corpora 4. 115–133. https://doi.org/10.3366/e1749503209000276.Search in Google Scholar
Zeng, Xiaoyan, Yasuhiro Shirai & Xiaoxiang Chen. 2019. Universals and transfer in the acquisition of the progressive aspect: Evidence from L1 Chinese, German, and Spanish learners’ use of the progressive-ing in spoken English. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 1. 1–26. https://doi-org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/10.1515/iral-2017-0078.10.1515/iral-2017-0078Search in Google Scholar
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
