Processing and Acquisition of Scrambled Sentences by Learners of Japanese as a Second Language Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Shigenaga, Yasumasa Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 23/09/2021 15:41:09 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/344218 PROCESSING AND ACQUISITION OF SCRAMBLED SENTENCES BY LEARNERS OF JAPANESE AS A SECOND LANGUAGE by Yasumasa Shigenaga __________________________ Copyright © Yasumasa Shigenaga 2014 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the GRADUATE INTERDISCIPLINARY DOCTORAL PROGRAM IN SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND TEACHING In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2014 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Yasumasa Shigenaga, titled Processing and Acquisition of Scrambled Sentences by Learners of Japanese as a Second Language and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 08/28/2014 Thomas G. Bever _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 08/28/2014 Kenneth Forster _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 08/28/2014 Janet Nicol Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: 08/28/2014 Dissertation Director: Thomas G. Bever 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Yasumasa Shigenaga 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation could not have been completed without the help and support from many people. First, I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Thomas Bever. It was his guidance and insights that shaped the ideas about this dissertation. He was always patient with my very slow progress and provided me with constant encouragement, which motivated me to keep on working. I also would like to thank the other members of my dissertation committee. Dr. Kenneth Forster spared many hours for me especially during the data-analysis phase. Without his support, I could not have analyzed the large amount of data I had collected for this project. Dr. Janet Nicol also spared a lot of her valuable time for me especially when I was struggling with the creation of the experimental stimuli. Her practical advice made the creation of the materials so much easier. This dissertation was partly funded by the SLAT Research Fund. The SLAT program has been very generous throughout my time at the University of Arizona. I am so glad that I have been part of such a supportive program. My gratitude is extended to Ryoko Utsunomiya, who drew beautiful pictures for the experiments, and to Ayaka Komori, who audio-recorded the sentence stimuli. I owe thanks to my friends and colleagues in the Department of East Asian Studies, the Department of Linguistics, and the SLAT program for making my time in Tucson so much more enjoyable. Thanks also to John Harris, who was available for moral support and reminded me that life is pretty good. Lastly, I would like to thank John Bilotta for encouraging me to pursue a higher degree and supporting me throughout my time in the doctoral program. 5 DEDICATION To my parents 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................ 10 LIST OF TABLES.............................................................................................................................. 12 ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................ 14 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 16 1.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 16 1.2 Scrambling in Japanese ........................................................................................................... 17 1.2.1 Structure of Japanese scrambling.................................................................................... 18 1.2.2 Use of scrambling ............................................................................................................ 21 1.2.3 Frequency of scrambling ................................................................................................. 23 1.3 The present study..................................................................................................................... 25 1.3.1 Research questions ........................................................................................................... 26 1.3.2 Overview of the methods................................................................................................. 29 1.3.2.1 Participants ................................................................................................................ 29 1.3.2.2 Tasks .......................................................................................................................... 33 1.3.2.3 Order of participation ............................................................................................... 33 1.4 Organization of chapters ......................................................................................................... 34 CHAPTER 2: THE RELATION OF GRAMMATICAL KNOWLEDGE AND PERFORMANCE IN L2 LEARNERS' PRODUCTION OF SCRAMBLED SENTENCES ....... 36 2.1 Introduction.............................................................................................................................. 36 2.2 Two concepts that are most relevant to the present study .................................................... 37 2.2.1 Canonical template .......................................................................................................... 37 2.2.2 Reversibility ..................................................................................................................... 39 2.3 Literature review ..................................................................................................................... 42 2.3.1 Processing of OSV sentences by L1 Japanese children ................................................ 42 2.3.2 Processing of OSV sentences by L2 learners of Japanese ............................................ 49 2.4 Rationale and purposes of the present study ......................................................................... 54 2.5 Method for Task 1 ................................................................................................................... 57 2.5.1 Participants ....................................................................................................................... 57 2.5.2 Materials and design ........................................................................................................ 57 2.5.3 Procedure .......................................................................................................................... 60 2.5.4 Scoring and analysis ........................................................................................................ 60 2.6 Results of Task 1 ..................................................................................................................... 63 2.6.1 Mean response accuracy data based on the “lax” scoring ............................................. 63 2.6.1.1 Transitive sentences .................................................................................................. 63 2.6.1.2 Locative sentences .................................................................................................... 66 2.6.2 Mean response accuracy data based on the “strict” scoring.......................................... 67 2.6.2.1 Transitive sentences .................................................................................................. 67 2.6.2.2 Locative sentences .................................................................................................... 71 2.6.3 Raw frequency data ......................................................................................................... 73 2.6.3.1 Reversible sentences ................................................................................................