Mandarin speakers’ difficulties with spatial prepositions in English and their conceptualization of spatial relations

Abstract

Previous studies claim that it is difficult for learners of English to master English prepositions. Even though pedagogical descriptions have already included fundamental uses, there are still instances showing that learners choose prepositions differently from native speakers of English. This learning gap should refer to the different systems of conceptualization by the two groups of language users. The objectives of the present study are threefold: 1) to investigate the difficulties which Mandarin Chinese learners of English encounter when choosing the spatial prepositions in English, 2) to modify the existing semantic networks for the spatial relations in English and compare them with the constructed semantic networks for Mandarin Chinese localizers, and 3) to explain the learning difficulties (in No.1) cognitively by relating them to comparisons of the semantic networks for the spatial relations in both languages (in No. 2). To fulfill the objectives, the Test of Spatial Relations (TSR) which contained sixty multiple-choice test items, were created to examine the difficulties that a sample of Mandarin Chinese learners of English encountered. A total of 73 valid test copies were collected for analyses. The semantic networks for the Mandarin Chinese localizers were created based on Sinica Corpus, and the analyses adopted Principled Polysemy developed by Tyler and Evans (2003). The TSR results confirm and define learning difficulties. The comparisons of the semantic networks in English and Mandarin Chinese suggest similarities and differences. The discussions of the TSR results and the semantic networks lead to cognitive descriptions based on contrastive analysis. The TSR results suggest that Mandarin Chinese Learners of English especially have difficulties with indicating verticality including above, at, below, in, on, over, and under, especially when they are metaphorically used. The comparisons between the semantic networks for the spatial prepositions in English and Mandarin Chinese localizers reveal that there are more differences than similarities. The analysis of the relationships between the test items and the semantic networks shows that the similarities in the spatial-physical senses are more likely to enhance ease of learning while it is more possible that the differences in the spatial-functional senses make MLEs especially confused.