An Empirical Study of Subjective Cross-Linguistic Similarity Among Chinese-English-Korean Beginner Trilingual Learners
关键词:
Third language learners; subjective cross-linguistic similarity; word classes; grammatical items摘要
Subjective cross-linguistic similarity is a key factor influencing cross-linguistic transfer. This study investigated 117 Chinese-English-Korean beginner trilingual learners’ perceived similarity between Korean (L3) and Chinese (L1), and between Korean (L3) and English (L2) across word classes and grammatical items using a self-designed 5-point Likert questionnaire. Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and paired-samples t-tests. The results showed that: (1) Learners’ perceived similarity varied across linguistic categories, with a wider range of variation in Korean-Chinese similarity than in Korean-English similarity; (2) Korean-Chinese similarity was rated significantly higher than Korean-English similarity in all word classes except verbs; (3) Korean-Chinese similarity was significantly higher in all grammatical items except sentence structure and tense-aspect, where Korean-English similarity was rated higher. These findings provide empirical support for understanding subjective similarity in trilingual acquisition and highlight the roles of typological proximity and Sino-Korean linguistic commonalities.
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