A Corpus-based Study On The Effects Of Semantic Factors On Chinese EFL Learners’ Overpassivization Of Unaccusative Verbs

In the context of relational grammar, Perlmutter (1978) proposes the unaccusative hypothesis, following whom Burzio (1986) studies this field within Government-Binding framework. According to this hypothesis, intransitive Verbs can be subdivided into two categories, one of which is the unaccusative verb (die, come, disappear) and the other is the unergative verb (work, walk, laugh). Although they both appear in the NP+V sentences, they bear different semantic and syntactic representations. It is. verified that there exists a universal phenomenon where EFL learners from different language backgrounds tend to overpassivize unaccusative verbs, which is called the overpassivization phenomenon. Scholars focus on discussing the generating mechanism of this phenomenon, the results including the L1 transfer hypothesis, the transitivization hypothesis, the post-verbal NP movement hypothesis and accounts from semantic and pragmatic perspectives.However, there are systematic differences among unaccusative verbs and unergative verbs, which appear hierarchically. Sorace (1995a) puts forward the Split Intransitivity Hierarchy, claiming unaccusative verbs can be classified into core and peripheral unaccusative verbs, so can unergative verbs. This hierarchy is determined by aspectual and thematic parameters (telicity and agentivity), along which telicity decreases while agentivity increases. These systematic differences among unaccusative verbs lead to asymmetric acquisition of unaccuative verbs by EFL learners.This study is based on CLEC to investigate Chinese EFL learners’ overpassivization of unaccusative verbs and the theoretical foundation is the Split Intransitivity Hierarchy, according to which fifteen high-frequency unaccusative verbs are selected and classified into five groups. Three research questions are to be explored:(1) are frequencies of overpassivization among the five groups significantly different on the part of Chinese EFL learners? (2) What are the possible causes of overpassivization of every selected unaccusative verb on the part of Chinese EFL learners? (3) What are the common semantic causes of overpassivization of all selected unaccusative verbs on the part of Chinese EFL learners?Fifteen high-frequency unaccusative verbs are retrieved in CLEC and then frequencies of overpassivization of unaccusative verbs are figured out. Based on these data, it is to be tested whether Chinese EFL learners are sensitive to the semantic features of unaccusative verbs. Results show that:(1) the results of K Independent Samples test present that the frequencies of overpassivization among the five groups are not significantly different, which means as the direct determinant of the Split Intransitivity Hierarchy telicity does not significantly affect the acquisition of unaccusative verb on the part of Chinese EFL learners. However, the total frequencies of overpassivization of each group are slightly distinct, especially between group one and group five. This present study presents an acquisition order "group one>1 group four> group three> group two> group five", which is similar to what Sorace & Shomura (2001) predicate:group one> group two> group three> group four> group five. Therefore, to some extent the Split Intransitivity Hierarchy is confirmed. (2) Various causes lead to overpassivization of each unaccusative verb, such as L1 transfer and pragmatic factors. This study refutes the validity of L1 transfer, but supports the interference of pragmatic and cognitive factors, and finds that L2 may have an impact on the overpassivization of unaccusative verbs. (3) There are two semantic factors influencing the acquisition of unaccusative verbs on the part of Chinese EFL learner, animacy and agentivity. Subjects of passivized unaccusative verbs in CLEC are mostly inanimate. In Croft’s (1995) opinion, the inanimate and abstract concepts are often used as objects. When the inanimate or the abstract concept is in the subject position, EFL learners are apt to regard it as the object and the patient which moves forward and then passivize it. That is why unaccusative verbs with inanimate subjects ahead are easy to be passivized by Chinese EFL learners. Unaccusative verbs contain implicit transitivity that is the prerequisite for a verb to be passivized. Agentivity is one of the most important transitivity parameters. So the higher the degree of agentivity is, the higher the frequency of overpassivization is, which confirms agentivity influences the overpassivization of unaccusative verbs on the part of Chinese EFL learners.This present study is made up of five chapters, first of which is the introduction, presenting research background, objectives and significance of this study. The second chapter is literature review, introducing the unaccusative hypothesis and previous studies of the overpassivization phenomenon of unaccusative verbs, among which studies from the semantic aspect are demonstrated in details. Chapter three is research methodology which elucidates research questions, instruments employed in this thesis and procedures of analysis. The results and discussion of this study are presented in chapter four, denoting that to some extent the Split Intransitivity Hierarchy is confirmed and animacy and agentivity influence Chinese EFL learners’acquisition of unaccusative verbs. A general conclusion is given in chapter five, including this study’s major findings, implications and limitations, and some suggestions for further studies.