社会语言学心理词汇

社会语言学心理词汇

心理词汇对外语词汇教学的意义mentallexiconandL2vocabularylearning1.Introduction2.Thedefinitionsofmentallexicon3.ThedifferencebetweenL1mentallexiconandL2mentallexicon4.ImplicationsofmentallexicononthevocabularyteachingDefinitionsofmentallexiconMentallexiconissomethinglikeapaperdictionary,butnotasvisibleasapaperdictionarywithaseriesofentries.J.C.Richards(2000)definesmentallexiconasamentalsystemthatcontainsalltheinformationapersonknowsaboutwords.Accordingtopsychologist,people’sknowledgeofawordincludes(a)knowinghowawordispronounced;(b)thegrammaticalpatternswithwhichawordisused;(c)themeaningormeaningsoftheword.GuiShichunthinks(2000)thestudyofmentallexiconmainlyconcernshowwordsarestoredinone’smemoryandhowwordsareconnectedwhentheyareneededinspeechorwriting.GuicitesAitchisontoillustratethedifferencebetweenmentallexiconandtraditionalbookdictionary.First,mentallexiconisnotorganizedinthesamealphabeticalorderastraditionalbookdictionary.Second,bookdictionarycontainsadefinitenumberofwordsandisoftenlegbehindtheconstantdevelopmentoflanguagewhilementallexiconisnotfixedwithconstantappearanceordisappearanceofneworoldwords,newmeaningsforwordsandevennewpronunciations.Third,amostimportantone,mentallexiconcontainsmuchmoreinformationthanbookdictionary.ThedomainsofmentallexiconFormsandwordmeaningsBothformandmeaningplayapartinthedevelopmentofL2mentallexiconwithoneofthemasthedominantfactoratdifferentphasesofsuchadevelopment.Itisnodoubtthatlexicalchoiceandmeaningareintimatelylinked.GrammarandlexiconCollocationDifferencebetweenL1mentallexiconandL2mentallexiconMentallexicondevelopsinasimilarwayasL1mentallexicondoes,butwithitsownparticularities.ThetwomajordifferencesbetweentheL1andL2learnersarethatL2learnerisatamoreadvancedstageofdevelopmentinbothphysicalandcognitivetermsandhasalreadybeenthroughtheprocessofacquiringalanguage.TheythusleaveoutmanyperiodsthataL1learnerhastoexperience.ThisinvolvesmanyotherdifferencesbetweenL1andL2learnerssuchasinthephoneticdomainandinconceptual/semanticdomain.Inthephoneticdomain,justaspre-verbalL1learnershavetostruggletoreplicatethesoundshapesofthelanguageoftheirenvironmentfromastartingpoint---babbling---whichisnotnecessarilyveryhelpfulphonetically,soL2learnershavetocometogripswithsoundsoftheL2thatmaybearlittleresemblancetothoseoftheirL1.WhileL2learnershaveinternalizedtheprincipleofphoneticdistinctionsanditsroleinkeepinglexicalitemsdistinct,they,likeL1learners,stillhavetoworkoutwhichphoneticdifferencesarephoneticandwhicharenot;indeed,thefactofhavingonephonologicalsystemalreadyinplacecanbeasourceofhindranceasmuchasofhelpinthismatter.Intheconceptual/semanticdomain,therearetooparallelsbetweenL1andL2lexicaldevelopment.Ofcourse,L2learnersstartfromfurtherdowntheroadofconceptdevelopmentthaninfantsconfrontingthetaskofL1acquisition.Indeed,manyofthemeaningsandmeaninghierarchiesthatarelexicalizedinagivenL1andhavealreadybeeninternalizedbytheL2learnerwillberecyclablewithonlyminimaladjustmentinL2.And,howeverclosetheculturaloverlapbetweentwolanguagecommunities;therewillalwaysbeareasanditemsofmeaningwhichdonotcorrespond.Insomeinstances(likeChineselearnersstudyingEnglish),theL2learnersarefacedwithtotallynewconcepts.Moreoften---andperhapsmoreproblematically---themeaningsoftheL2,reflectingtheculturalspecialtiesofitsparticularlanguagecommunity,aredifferentlystructuredanddistributedascomparedwiththoseoftheL1.TheexistenceofL1knowledgecanadmittedlybeseenassettingtheL2versionsofthesephenomenaapartinsomesensebutinbothcasesoftheL1andtheL2theprocessofapprehendingthesemanticrangeofnewlyencounteredwordsisconstrainedandshapedbytheparticularitiesofthe\nexperiencethelearnerhashadoftheworlditself,ofrelatedwordsandoftherelevantconcept(s).Tosummarize,itwasrecognizedthatL2lexicaldevelopmentdiffersmarkedlyfromL1lexicaldevelopmentinsofarasitlacksapre-speechdimensionandinsofarasittakesplaceinthepresence,asitwere,ofanalreadyacquiredlexicon(Singleton,1999).However,L2learnershaveanumberofdifficultiesincommonwithL1learnersintheirstruggletoisolatemeaningfulunitsandconnectthemwithaspectsofrealities,tointernalizethereplicatetheformalcharacteristicsoftheseunits,andtopuzzleoutandstoretheirprecisemeanings.IntegrationandseparationbetweentheL1andL2mentallexiconTherehavebeencontroversialargumentswithregardtotheissueofwhetherL1andL2mentallexiconsareintegratedorseparated.Astoucheduponintheprevioussub-section,NanJiang’sviewisobviouslyonethatsupportstheintegrationalline.Singleton(1999),throughawidespectrumofresearch,rulesoutthenotionthattheL1andtheL2lexiconsarecompletelydisconnectedfromeachother,andthepropositionthatthetwolexiconsaretotallyintegrated.TheevidencewhichheviewedstronglysupportthebeliefthatL1andL2lexisareseparatelystored,butthetwosystemsareincommunicationwitheachother---whetherviadirectconnectionsbetweenindividualL1andL2lexicalnodes,orviaacommonconceptualstore(orboth).HereitisalsoworthnotingthattherelationshipbetweenagivenL2wordandagivenL1wordinthementallexiconwillvaryfromindividualtoindividual,dependingonhowthewordshavebeenacquiredandhowwelltheyareknown,andalsoonthedegreetowhichformaland/orsemanticsimilarityisperceivedbetweentheL2wordandtheL1wordinquestion.Soitiswisetotakeaneclecticattitudetowardsthisissue.FormandmeaningbothplayapartinthedevelopmentofL2mentallexiconwithoneofthemasthedominantfactoratdifferentphasesofsuchadevelopment.Itisgenerallytakenthat,attheinitialstages,phonologyplaysanoverwhelmingrolewhileatthelaterstagesinthedevelopment,meaningcomestothefore.Inthelongrun,lexicalunitsareincreasinglyprocessedquameaningratherthanquaformastheirintegrationintothementallexiconprogresses.RepresentationoflexicalitemsintheL2mentallexiconAlexicalentryinL1isgenerallyconsideredtocontainsemantic,syntactic,morphologicalandformal(phonologicalandorthographic)specificationsaboutalexicalitem.Thesedifferenttypesofinformationarebelievedtoberepresentedinthetwocomponentsthatmakeupalexicalentry:thelemmaandthelexeme.Thelemmacontainssemanticandsyntacticinformationaboutaword,forexample,wordmeaningandpartofspeech,andthelexemecontainsmorphologicalandformalinformation,forexample,differentmorphologicalvariantsofaword,spelling,andpronunciation.OneimportantfeatureofthelexicalrepresentationinL1isthatthesedifferenttypesofinformationarehighlyintegratedwitheachentry,suchthatoncetheentryisopened,alltheinformationautomaticallybecomesavailable.Andthisintegrationofdifferentkindsofinformationintolexicalentriesrequiresextensive,highlycontextualizedexposuretothelanguagethatoneisacquiringorlearning.ImplicationsofmentallexicononL2vocabularylearningAnyapproachesthatdealinisolateditemshavetobesupplementedbyapproachesthatgivefullvaluetothecollocational,grammaticalandotherdimensionsofthelexion.Formandmeaningbothplayanimportantroleinthelearningofvocabulary.Semanticassociationprovidemuchconvenienceformemorizingvocabulary.Thetypicalapproachistoarrangethetargetwordsaccordingtosemanticfield,whichreflectsthementallexiconinthemindandwhichinvolvesthedifferenttypesofinterrelatedmeaningrelationshipssuchassynonymy,antonymyandhyponymy.ConsultationoftheL1lexiconhelpsdevelopL2vocabularyThetwolexiconsofL1andL2areconnectedandincommunicationwitheachother,consultationoftheL1lexiconwillinevitablybeafeatureofthelearninganduseofL2vocabulary.Thus,thetraditionalgrammar–translationapproachisstillhavingitssignificanceinL2learningarea.