CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG
香港城市大學
A Study on L2 Acquisition of
Chinese Near-Synonyms
漢語近義詞的二語習得研究
Submitted to
Department of Linguistics and Translation
翻譯及語言學系
in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy
哲學博士學位
awarded by City University of Hong Kong
for successful completion of the joint programme with
Sun Yat-sen University
by
Hong Wei
洪煒
August 2014
二零一四年八月
Abstract
Near-synonyms refer to words that share one or more similar meanings. Since there
are a great number of near-synonyms in a language, expansion of one’s vocabulary is
inevitably related to near-synonym learning which can also be a great challenge due to
the similarity of certain words in meaning. Therefore, it is critical in vocabulary
teaching to encourage learners to construct a network of near-synonyms and make use
of them properly.
Using interlanguage corpus, paper-and-pencil tests, a lexical decision task by
semantic priming paradigm, a self-assessment of learning difficulty, a sentence
acceptability judgment task as well as interviews, I investigated the acquisition of
Chinese near-synonyms by learners of Chinese as a second language (hereafter CSL
learners) in this dissertation.
From the perspective of word formation, three acquisition features have been
investigated. Firstly, whether shared morphemes have a major impact on CSL learners’
acquisition of near-synonyms. The overall results showed that in general CSL learners
tended to consider words with shared morphemes as near-synonyms. For learners of
elementary and intermediate proficiency levels, constructing near-synonymous
relations based on the shared morphemes was notable. For advanced learners, the
impact of shared morphemes diminished, while awareness of structuring
near-synonymous relations based on the meaning of words became stronger.
Therefore, it indicated that the construction of a near-synonym network followed a
dynamic developmental process from a morpheme-based stage to a word-based stage.
Secondly, the impact of shared morphemes on constructing a near-synonym network
varied with language backgrounds of CSL learners. Specifically, Korean and Japanese
learners tested significantly higher than European and American learners on
near-synonyms with shared morphemes while the inverse is true for near-synonyms
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without shared morphemes. Thirdly, the relative spatial position of the shared
morphemes also had an influence on the strength of connection of near-synonyms in
the mental lexicon. In general, the connection between near-synonyms with initial or
final shared morphemes was stronger than those with cross-shared morphemes.
Furthermore, it was found that with lower Chinese proficiency, the connection
between near-synonyms with initial shared morphemes was closer than that with final
shared morphemes, but the connective strength in these two situations was less
significant for advanced learners.
From the perspective of differences in usage among near-synonyms, the
acquisition of the differences among near-synonyms became more and more specific
and automatic with the increased proficiency level. At first, CSL learners constructed
near-synonymous relations between words rather than word senses, which may result
in confusion because not all of the senses between the two words are
near-synonymous. With the improvement of Chinese proficiency, CSL learners can
decompose a word into different senses in their mental lexicon and construct
near-synonymous connection in senses of words, which results in the confusion about
usages of different senses decreasing. As to differences between similar senses of
near-synonyms, the prominent degree of distinguishing features exerted an influence
on acquisition difficulties and sequences. In general, CSL learners appeared to acquire
the more prominent syntactic differences earlier and more firmly than the less
prominent semantic differences. The distribution of errors in near-synonyms in
Chinese interlanguage corpus also indicated that whether syntactic distinguishing
features existed or not had an influence on the acquisition of near-synonyms. Errors
were more common on near-synonyms with syntactic similarity but subtle semantic
distinction than on those with a pronounced syntactic distinction. Such distribution
characteristics were consistent across the variations in language proficiency and
language backgrounds.
In addition, the study also found the causes of errors with near-synonyms
including negative transfer from their mother tongue, insufficient knowledge of the
target language, as well as problems with use of communication strategies and
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teaching material.
Based on the above conclusions, suggestions related to definitions of
near-synonyms in textbooks and reference books, discriminating methods, as well as
teaching strategies regarding near-synonyms are offered. Furthermore, an empirical
study on the teaching of near-synonyms to CSL learners showed that explicit
instruction of the differences significantly improved the acquisition of the differences
between near-synonyms, and that discovery-based instruction resulted in better
acquisition of near-synonyms than the traditional expository instruction did. In the
teaching of near-synonyms, measures should be taken to increase the task-induced
involvement load for the learners to actively discover the usage differences of
near-synonyms.
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Contents
List of Tables................................................................................................................. x
List of Figures .............................................................................................................. xi
Abbreviations .............................................................................................................xii
Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1
1.1 Research background ........................................................................................... 1
1.2 Theoretical foundation ......................................................................................... 4
1.3 Scopes and goals of this research ....................................................................... 15
1.4 Methods of this research .................................................................................... 17
1.5 Significance of this research .............................................................................. 19
1.6 Outline of this research ...................................................................................... 20
Chapter 2 Literature review ..................................................................................... 23
2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 23
2.2 Definition of near-synonyms in CSL teaching ................................................... 23
2.3 Research on near-synonyms in CSL teaching .................................................... 26
2.4 Research on the framework of near-synonym differentiation in CSL teaching . 31
2.5 Research on CSL learners’ acquisition of near-synonyms................................. 33
2.6 Research on the approach to teaching near-synonyms....................................... 35
2.7 The need for further research ............................................................................. 36
Chapter 3 The influence of the morphemic factor on the construction of
near-synonymous relations............................................................................ 39
3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 39
3.2 Experiment 1 ...................................................................................................... 40
3.3 Experiment 2 ...................................................................................................... 53
3.4 Relevant usage errors in L2 production ............................................................. 70
3.5 Summary ............................................................................................................ 72
Chapter 4 The acquisition of similar sense and dissimilar sense of
near-synonyms by CSL learners ................................................................... 73
vii
4.1 Research questions ............................................................................................. 73
4.2 Method ............................................................................................................... 74
4.3 Results ................................................................................................................ 77
4.4 Discussion .......................................................................................................... 80
4.5 Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 87
Chapter 5 The acquisition of semantic and syntactic differences of
near-synonyms by CSL learners .................................................................. 89
5.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 89
5.2 Experiment 1 ...................................................................................................... 90
5.3 Experiment 2 ...................................................................................................... 95
5.4 Discussion .......................................................................................................... 99
5.5 Conclusion........................................................................................................ 106
Chapter 6 Analysis of near-synonym errors in the Chinese Interlanguage ....... 107
6.1 Goals, methods and sources of language data.................................................. 107
6.2 Scope of near-synonym errors.......................................................................... 108
6.3 Types of near-synonym errors.......................................................................... 109
6.4 Quantitative analysis of errors.......................................................................... 147
6.5 Explanation of errors........................................................................................ 153
Chapter 7 An empirical study on the teaching of near-synonyms to CSL learners
....................................................................................................................... 176
7.1 Research questions ........................................................................................... 176
7.2 Method ............................................................................................................. 178
7.3 Results .............................................................................................................. 182
7.4 Discussion ........................................................................................................ 184
7.5 Conclusion and implication.............................................................................. 189
Chapter 8 The implications for the teaching of near-synonyms ......................... 192
8.1 The implications for the vocabulary definition in textbooks and dictionaries . 192
8.2 The implications for the near-synonym discrimination in textbooks and
dictionaries ............................................................................................................. 196
8.3 The implications for near-synonym instruction ............................................... 200
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Chapter 9 Conclusion.............................................................................................. 206
9.1 Summary of main findings............................................................................... 206
9.2 Model of phases in development of the L2 acquisition of Chinese
near-synonyms ....................................................................................................... 208
9.3 The contributions of this research .................................................................... 210
9.4 Limitations and further directions .................................................................... 212
Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 213
APPENDIX A ........................................................................................................... 233
APPENDIX B ........................................................................................................... 235
APPENDIX C ........................................................................................................... 239
APPENDIX D ........................................................................................................... 242
APPENDIX E ........................................................................................................... 245
APPENDIX F ........................................................................................................... 248
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