Learning Verb System in Second Language: the Influence of Lexical Knowledge of L1 in Learning the Relationships between the Meanings of Verbs in L2

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate how L2 learners sort out the relations among L2 verbs belonging to the same semantic domain and to show to what degree their lexical knowledge of L1 influences the learning process of L2 quantitatively. Specifically, we studied how L1 speakers of Chinese and learners of Chinese whose native language is Korean or Japanese apply various Chinese verbs to 13 videos depicting different carrying actions. Other participants who spoke Korean or Japanese as their native language also saw the same videos and named them in their L1 verbs. We compared how L2 learners named the various carrying events in L2 (Chinese) and how native speakers of Chinese named them. We then compared the production pattern of Chinese verbs by Korean or Japanese L2 learners and the production of pattern of verbs in their L1. The results revealed that it is extremely difficult for L2 learners to use different Chinese carrying verbs in the same way native speakers of Chinese do. Furthermore, the influence of the lexical knowledge of L1 to the learning process of L2 was apparent. The L2 learners' usage pattern of Chinese carrying verbs directly reflected how they divided the events by names in their native language.