Sociolinguistic
Variation in the
Speech of Learners of
Chinese as a Second
Language
NA1C0010 陳姵豫
Introduciton
• this study investigates the use of the
morphosyntactic particle DE (的) by learners of
Chinese as a second language. The general
patterns are as follows: (a) DE tends to be
deleted more in informal speech than in formal
settings; (b) higher proficiency and longer
residence in China—more interactions with
native speakers—promote DE deletion; and (c)
females tend to adopt more formal language
style and use DE more than males.
Introduction
• The study also found that teachers and textbooks use
DE much more often than native speakers. Learners’
patterns of DE use closely follow those of their teachers
and textbooks, suggesting the necessity of explicit
instruction in sociolinguistic variants in L2 classrooms.
Introduction
• The basic underlying assumption of this approach is that
variation in language use is not random but highly
systematic and characterized by “orderly heterogeneity”
(Weinreich, Labov,&Herzog, 1968). As Bayley (2002)
explained, “speakers’ choices between variable linguistic
forms are systematically constrained by multiple linguistic
and social factors that reflect underlying grammatical
systems and that both reflect and partially constitute the
social organization of the communities to which users of
the language belong” (p. 117).
Introduciton
• Two basic trends have emerged in L2 variation
studies. One group of studies focuses on the
acquisition of target language (TL) obligatory
forms, known as Type 1 variation (Mougeon et
al., 2004) (e.g., past tense marking in English).
The other group of studies looks at the
acquisition of the TL forms that native speakers
demonstrate variation, known as Type 2
variation
Research Questions
• With native-speaker data as the baseline, this study
investigates sociolinguistic variability in the speech of highintermediate and advanced learners of Mandarin Chinese
(hereafter Chinese) as a second language (CSL). The lens that
I use is the Chinese morphosyntactic particle DE ( ) (hereafter
DE).
• Native speakers:
1. What are the patterns of variation in DE use by Chinese native
speakers?
2. What are the effects on Chinese native speakers’ DE use of (a)
linguistic functions of DE, (b) gender, and (c) formality?
Research Questions
• CSL learners:
1. What are the patterns of variation in CSL learners’ DE use?
2. How are learners’ patterns of DE use different from
native speakers’ patterns?
3. What are the effects on learners’ DE use of (a) function of
DE, (b) length of residence in China, (c) native language,
(d) gender, (e) proficiency level, and (f) educational
factors?
Grammatical Description of DE
• Generally, DE has three major functions:
genitive marker, attributive marker, and
nominalization marker (C. N. Li & Thompson,
1981; P.-C. Yip & Rimmington, 2004). In the
following examples, which came from
CSLspeaker data, DE in parentheses indicates
that it is optional and the speaker did not use it.
Grammatical Description of DE
• As a genitive marker (1), DE indicates a possessive
relationship between the modifier and the head noun
(N)/noun phrase (NP):
• (1) 我(的)朋友 my friend
• In the case of DE as an attributive marker, the DE marked
constituent can be an adjective (Adj. DE N/NP), a noun (N1
DE N/NP), a verb (V DE N/NP), a phrase (Phrase DE N/NP), or
a relative clause (S’ DE N/NP) (examples 2–6).
• Adjective
• (2)好(的)方法 good method
Grammatical Description of DE
• Noun
• (3)中國 (的)老師 native Chinese teacher
• Verb
• (4)輸 (的)人
the person who lost
• Phrase
• (5) 對我們(的)印象
the impression of us
• Relative Clause
• (6) 他認識(的)韓國人 the Korean people that she knows
Grammatical Description of DE
• Although DE in some of the no-head-N/NP contexts does
not function to nominalize the modifier, those DE
occurrences are included under this category because they
share the feature of having no head words.
• 韓國人不喜歡吃的
What Korean people don’t like to eat
Grammatical Description of DE
• Furthermore, DE, together with hu`a (話), can also be used
to mark a conditional clause, where it is always obligatory.
• 如果你真的不想告訴我們的話，就沒辦法了
If you really don’t want to tell us, there is no way out.
Purposes of the Study
• This study aims to investigate all of the major
linguistic functions of DE used by advanced CSL
learners. In addition, no previous studies
investigated learners’ acquisition of DE Type 2
variation or the sociolinguistic/stylistic variation
of DE.
Methodology
• The design of this study is primarily quantitative, but it
also makes use of qualitative methods. Quantitative
methodology is the most widely used method in L2
variation studies and has proven to be quite efficient
and successful in understanding and analyzing
interlanguage. However, quantification of some factors
requires support from real social practices, which call
for the addition of a qualitative component.
Methodology
Participants
• The participants of the current study included Chinese
native speakers, CSL learners, and CSL instructors. Native
speakers (NSs) were included to serve as the baseline for
the analysis of learners’ Chinese language use. Instructors
were recruited to enable an examination of the effect of
teachers’ input on learners’ L2 performance.
• Twelve NSs (six males and six females) were recruited
through my personal connections with instructors at
Dongbei3 University based on the following criteria: (a)
They are similar in age and educational level to the CSL
participants and (b) they speak fluent Mandarin.
Methodology
Participants
• All of the learners had 20 contact hours of classroom
instruction every week, 1–2 hours of Chinese tutoring
every day, and many hours of activities each week with
their Chinese friends, such as hanging out at the bar, going
shopping together, having parties, and so on.
Data Collection
• The field work that provided the data for this
study was conducted from March through June
2006. Multiple methods were adopted for data
collection, including background questionnaires,
sociolinguistic interviews, participant
observation, and audiotaping of CSL instructors’
speech during teaching. The instructional
materials used in the CSL classes were also
collected for analysis.
Data Collection
• All learner participants were asked to respond
to a background questionnaire in Chinese
providing demographic information, language
background, length of residence in China,
length of prior Chinese learning, and so on.
Data Collection
Data Collection
• Each interview lasted about 45–60 min. Most
topics for the first interview came out of my
prepared interview protocol, including life
experience in China, hobbies, family stories,
favorite movies, home cultural stories, travel
experiences, and Chinese learning experiences
(see the Appendix). However, the topics were not
discussed in the prepared order. Rather, each
topic was introduced naturally and many of them
were covered without my elicitation. The topics
for the second interview varied greatly from
speaker to speaker because most of them came
from my outside classroom interactions with
each of the learners.
Analytical Approach and Coding
• the program known as VARBRUL, which is a specialized
application of logistic regression and is deliberately designed
to handle the data obtained in the studies of variation and
thus the most extensively used program in variation studies,
was used to analyze the data in the current study.
• The greatest strength of VARBRUL analysis is that it can
“account for the multiple cross-cutting and intersecting
factors that influence learners speech” and thus “offer a
rigorous and principled method for testing predictions that
may derive from any comprehensive theory of interlanguage
variation, as well as for testing existing claims in the literature”
Results
Native Speaker Results
• Frequency analysis of NS data (Table 5) showed that NSs
always use DE in the conditional clause marker
environment and never in lexicalized terms.
Results
• Female speakers were found to use DE
significantly more frequently than male
speakers in two functions of DE—namely,
genitive marker and DE constructions followed
by demonstrative or number + classifier
phrase (Table 6).
Results
• By comparing NSs’ DE use in informal
conversational data with DE use in formal
situations such as teachers’ classroom speech
as well as Chinese writings in language
textbooks, it was shown that DE tends to be
used significantly more in formal contexts and
in writings, except the verb category in
textbooks (which will be discussed in the
“Discussion” section); see Tables 7 and 8.
Results
Results
Learner Results
• Table 9 shows that learners use DE all of the time in the
conditional clause marker environment. In lexicalized terms,
learners almost never use DE. They treat all of the other
functions as DE optional environments. Different from NSs,
learners treat the relative clause marker as a DE obligatory
environment with an acceptable margin of variability (1%)
and use DE almost all the time.
Results
Results
• Several other general patterns emerge from this
analysis:
1. Females tend to use DE more than males do.
2. The longer the learners stay in China and thus
the more interactions they have with NSs, the
more likely they are to omit DE in optional
contexts.
3. More proficient learners tend to omit DE more
in optional cases.
4. Native language does not play a significant role
in the use of sociolinguistic variation by these
learners of Chinese.