Referential form choice in the oral narrative discourse of native and non-native speakers of Japanese

摘要

This study investigates how native speakers of English select referential forms when they speak L2 Japanese. Oral production data was collected from novice to advanced level learners as well as from native speakers of Japanese. The study found: (1) The learners' referential patterning was very similar to that of the native Japanese speakers, indicating that it was not syntactically but rather pragmatically controlled, just as with native speakers. The learners also produced fairly small numbers of pronominal forms, which were the most frequent forms noted in the English data; (2) an approximation toward native speaker norms over time was observed. Such approximation, however, was not found equally in differnt linguistic contexts, nor was there a simple linear approach. The learners were successful in selecting appropriate referential forms in the environments where English and Japanese followed the same rule. Otherwise, their selection deviated from native speaker norms; and (3) both the L1 and L2 speakers showed individual differences when using pronominal forms and the speakers were divided into two types; speakers who used the form frequently and those who never used it. The use of pronouns thus seemed to have something to do with individual preferences rather than being entirely proficiency related. It was found that the learners' referential form selection was affected by a varienty of factors, including linguistic environments, proficiency levels, corresponding rules in English, and individual preferences, and that a successful act of reference is possible only when the speaker has a good command of the lexicon, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics of the target language.