On The Acquisition Of English Middle Construction By Chinese College Students From The Perspective Of Markedness Theory

English Middle Construction(EMC),as a kind of independent structure,is different from active construction and passive construction.Owing to its uniqueness and complexities in syntax and semantics,EMC has caused lots of difficulties for English second language learners.Theoretically,linguistic scholars have conducted relatively comprehensive studies on EMC from different aspects,including transformational grammar,cognitive linguistics,and cross-linguistics.However,empirical studies carried out on EMC are relatively inadequate both at home and abroad.Besides,the detailed acquisition order of different types of EMC still remains uninvestigated.Under the framework of Markedness Theory,each type of EMC possesses its own markedness degree,which leads to various acquisition difficulties.Markedness Theory can provide a sound theoretical foundation for the acquisition process,acquisition order and acquisition difficulties met by second language learners.This study investigates the acquisition of EMC through an Integrated English Language Test and an interview.It explores the influence of English language proficiency on the acquisition of EMC and the impact of markedness on the acquisition order.Additionally,the study also attempts to figure out the underlying difficulties in producing EMC.Major findings are listed as follows.(1)The English proficiency has a relatively positive influence on the acquisition of EMC.A significant difference of EMC proficiency is found between the intermediate group and the beginner level group,while the difference between the higher level group and intermediate level group is found to be not significant.(2)The acquisition order of the four major types of EMC is roughly ranked as Type A(Non-agent subject + V + modifier)>Type B(Non-agent subject + modal verb + V)>Type C(Non-agent subject + emphasis + V)>Type D(Non-agent subject + negation + V).The three subcategories EMC under Type A are found to follow an acquisition sequence as Type A2(Instrument subject+ V + modifier)≈ Type A1(Patient subject + V + modifier)>Type A3(Location subject + V + modifier);(3)A negative correlation is found between markedness and EMC acquisition.The acquisition of the relatively unmarked types is generally prior to the relatively marked types.Yet,markedness is just one factor that influences EMC acquisition and the negative influence of markedness is relative,rather than absolute.The relatively marked Type A2 is acquired better than relatively unmarked Type Al.(4)The relatively high markedness degree of EMC and its low occurrence frequency are two factors that cause the difficulties in the production of EMC.Participants tend to employ other less marked structures such as passive construction,active construction and tough construction to translate Chinese MC,rather than EMC.