Mechanisms of Verb conjugation by learners of Japanese

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23520608
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese language education
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: SUGAYA Natsue 東北大学, 高度教養教育・学生支援機構, 准教授 (90434456)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 第二言語習得 / 規則学習 / 項目学習 / 動詞形態素 / プライミング実験 / 中国語母語話者 / テンス / アスペクト

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to examine how Japanese native speakers (JNS) and nonnative speakers (JNNS) process verbal inflection. We conducted two types of on-line tasks: masked priming tasks and judgment tasks using the made-up verbs and real verbs. The results indicated that JNS and JNNS might treat verbal conjugation differently. JNNS rely on explicit grammatical knowledge, whereas JNS rely more on implicit, exemplar-based knowledge. The results also suggested that the conjugation process of JNNS was affected by pronunciation difficulties, such as a double consonant.

Free Research Field

日本語教育